Xanthic Growlithe Contract
by Facia
Summary: Elliot is just an ordinary new trainer. He has no new pokemon or special destiny. But something strange is going on. Unexplainable oddities are piling up, and hidden secrets are surfacing. Beneath the seeming normality of the world lies...
1. Elliot

A sallow pokemon sits on a steel table. Tiny needles, each connected to a wire, cover the top of its head. The wires snake back to a machine of indeterminate function, several feet high. Its eyes are closed. It looks dead, although it is breathing in shallow, slow breaths.

It is not noisy. There are the sounds of people moving around, but they are intent on their task. No one speaks.

An apple is placed on a second table.

Eyes watch intently.

There is the soft sound of quick typing. Electricity surges through the needles in the psyduck's head in a precise pattern. The apple trembles, then begins to rise. Several feet above the table, it halts and begins descending, and then, perhaps a quarter of an inch above the surface, the power lifting it abruptly vanishes and it thumps down onto the table.

"Impressive."

The lead scientist is skilled at self-depreciation, or perhaps intuition. "It doesn't have quite the range of applications you want yet, I know. But that's just a matter of equipment."

"And you're sure that can be overcome?"

"This is just the test version. We're intending to use far thinner wires in the helmet. This huge thing–" he gestures at the machine "–won't be necessary. The new wires will conduct the electricity more efficiently, so that less electricity will be wasted as heat. And we'll reduce the electricity needed in the brain itself, as the wiring will be closer to the correct nerves. The lowered voltage will allow for a smaller power supply. It should also reduce the number of cells killed by surplus electricity, extending the viable lifespan of the device."

"Is everything else finished?"

"The attack program is done. The target program isn't complete yet, but as you've just seen, it's quite accurate. And the subject shows no sign of waking up."

"Good."

* * *

Elliot hiked determinedly through the orderly forest, humming to himself. The path he walked on was an apparently simple one, made up of humble dirt. It was, however, strangely smooth and level, clear of roots and stones, and as unvarying in its width as a traintrack. Elliot had never seen anything different, so he did not find this strange.

He had not, in fact, seen much of anything. He was a new trainer, just ten years old, and he had been on his journey less than a week. This is the furthest he'd ever been from his hometown of Russet, and hiking along the rock-free, pressed dirt road, he was filled with a sense of adventure and maturity. His pace varied between brisk and leisurely, and he felt proud he wasn't tired by the walk.

He hadn't caught any pokemon yet. He carried one pokemon with him, a present from his parents. He had seen a few wild pokemon in the forest already, but hadn't attempted to capture them. He wasn't interested in rattata, pidgey, or poliwags.

Around noon, he decided to stop. There was undergrowth in this forest, but it grew in patches, thick, tightly bunched masses that more closely resembled regularly trimmed hedges than wild bushes. Like the uniform sized tree trunks, they were spaced widely apart, allowing them to be easily avoided. On the ground not taken up by bushes, which was a greater deal than one might think, a short layer of even, bright green grass grew. It was the same length as that on the lawns where he lived, and, like the grass there, covered every inch of spare soil, without even intermittent bare patches. The only part of the forest not covered by some form of vegetation, in fact, was the path itself, clear of even small fallen twigs and leaves.

So when Elliot stepped off the path, he did not need to fight through thin branches and thorns to travel. Instead, he stepped easily onto soft green grass, with the sun blocked by the thick tree branches well above his head. He felt grown-up, a trailblazer boldly going into wild, unknown territory.

The clearing he came to was picturesque. It had flowers - and, quite oddly, they were the same height as the short grass. There was a large, rounded rock in the meadow, the perfect size to sit on. Elliot did so. He rooted around in his backpack, retrieving a sandwich. Pulling back the wrapper, he took a big bite, chewed loudly, and swallowed.

He was about to take a second bite when he heard a pokemon moving in the tall grass at the edge of the field, and then saw the telltale waving of the grass' tips. He quickly stood, grabbing a ball from his belt. Without taking his eyes from the spot, he enlarged the Greatball.


	2. City

Elliot tossed his pokeball. It split open in midair, white light swirling out to form into a growlithe. He barked, smelling something in the grass, and charged.

  
A meowth tumbled out of the grass.

Anyone who had trained meowth would have noticed this one looked quite scrawny compared to their own, but would not have minded. It was, after all, common knowledge that trained pokemon were much larger than their wild counterparts. For this reason, trainers didn't hesitate to capture pokemon which were undersized, knowing they'd soon bulk up.

"Attack, Howler!" he yelled. "Bite!"

Pokemon, as it was commonly known, fight in the wild. But it might still seem odd, if one thought about it, that upon discovery they attacked rather than ran. What drove this response, so futile? And it was similarly odd, if one thought about it, that creatures who had previous experience fighting would so badly misjudge their opponent. And it was very, very odd that, in such a world, they would ever fight to the point of collapse rather than at least making an attempt to escape.

But they did, as everyone knew, so such oddities were clearly simple misunderstanding with the way pokemon behaved, things which would one day be understood.  Of course, with all the time and money spent on researching pokemon, one might have thought such simple behavioral research would have been conducted decades ago. But it was undoubtedly hard for researchers to study wild pokemon, because they rarely did.

The meowth made a few scratch attempts, then collapsed. Elliot tossed a pokeball, and the meowth turned into red light and slid into the open maw of the ball. It snapped shut, twitched once, then dinged, signifying the capture of the ten-year-old's first pokemon.

* * *

For someone who had spent their childhood daydreaming of being a trainer, Elliot might have seemed woefully unprepared. He had no real idea of what pokemon he wanted, no idea of what he was going to do as a trainer. Elliot's interest, like that of most children, had been limited to that daydream. His awareness of it was mainly through televised tournaments and schoolyard boasting, not books. Although he had learned some strategies, that was because pokemon advice was everywhere, and through repetition, some stuck.

Now that, walking, he had nothing more to think about, his thoughts revolved around what pokemon he should catch next. Certainly not a common pokemon - he'd be so embarrassed to try to fight another trainer with a rattata or pidgey. Only little kids had those. But beyond that, he really didn't know. He'd caught the meowth because it had appeared, and would probably do the same with the next mildly novel pokemon to appear. As long as it wasn't a pokemon he was extremely familiar with, like a spearow, he'd try to catch it. Planning, type variety, balance - all these things did not occur to him even for a moment.

Is this really surprising? He was, after all, ten years old.

Although he was proud of his first capture, he hadn't released it. He certainly intended to be friends with his pokemon, but he hadn't thought of that yet. The meowth was injured, so it couldn't be used in battles. He wasn't vapid enough to forget this, and because he was a child, and because he did think about them in terms of battles, he had written it off. He would not think of doing anything with it until it was healed at the Pokemon Center. Then he might take it out and make friends. The mind's logic can be a strange thing at times.

Loneliness had not set in yet. The first stirrings of missing people had only just started, and he did not recognize them yet. He felt slightly odd, and he wanted to get to the next city soon, but did not think of why that was. It had simply not occurred to him that he missed talking, seeing and being around others. It was one of the things not mentioned in stories about trainers, and besides, he wasn't a kid anymore. Why should he miss anyone?

He did walk more quickly, no longer entranced by his surroundings. And before long he found himself at Cerulean.

To the well-traveled, Cerulean was nothing of importance. It was a place big enough not to be a backwater, but no larger. The buildings were one or two stories high, the streets in good condition but not coated with travelers. It was a nice, wholesome, moderately developed place. A suburban city.

Elliot, however, was not well-traveled. He didn't quite walk around with his mouth open, but it was close. He was impressed, and of course, felt the same surge of prideful maturity he felt walking through the forest. This place wasn't like his old, familiar town, where he'd done everything there was to do ten times over. It was new, exciting, a challenge he was worthy of.

The first such challenge, of course, was getting to the Pokemon Center. He might not be experienced, but he wanted to fight at the gym and, if nothing else, he did know to heal his pokemon before a major battle.

The city, luckily, was not particularly large, and it was laid out in a neat and orderly manner. Inevitably, he stumbled upon the building. It was large and distinctive, so that he recognized it and headed there without a pause.

Inside, the smiling, pink-haired woman (was Joy her name or her title? he wondered) took his two pokeballs and told him she'd be back in just a few minutes.

He lounged on one of the plush, overstuffed chairs while he waited, feeling excited and anxious to go.

"A gyarados?" a boy nearby said. "Bad luck."

"Worst thing is," said another voice, "I saw her fighting some other kid and she just used a seel. I guess I look too old."

There was the squeak of springs that accompanies someone jerking upright in his seat. "Be quiet," the boy hissed. "Don't say that here!"

Before Elliot could start to wonder what they were talking about, the inner doors dinged and opened. He stood up and retrieved his two pokemon from Joy, forgetting the conversation.

Elliot had neglected to ask where the gym might be, but as luck would have it, most Pokemon Gyms were built near Pokemon Centers, or perhaps Pokemon Centers were built near Pokemon Gyms. At any rate, it took him only ten minutes before he saw a sign for the city's gym. Following it, he saw the huge, dome-shaped building. Feeling once again as if he had accomplished something impressive with remarkable ease, he entered.


	3. Cerulean Gym

"So," said the girl, "is one-on-one good for you?"

No trainer in stories ever redefined the terms of the battle. "Sure."

The Cerulean Gym was basically just walls and a ceiling surrounding a pool, with only a small portion of the ground dry and used for human purposes. Most water types were at a disadvantage on land, some more than others, so it made sense for the gym to be set up to make use this disadvantage would never be an issue. Elliot was standing at one side of the pool, his opponent on the far end opposite him. There were several spongy platforms between them, floating on the surface of the water, to have an area for the challenger's pokemon to stand if needed.

Had Elliot thought about this earlier, he might have considered the fact that he had only two pokemon, neither of which was a good choice in this fight. But he hadn't.

The first such thought only then entered his mind. Howler was a fire type, so he shouldn't use it. His fingers wrapped around the meowth's pokeball. Normal types weren't weak against water, so he didn't think it'd have trouble.

Or, more accurately, he didn't think. "Go, Meowth!" He threw the pokeball hard. It opened in midair, and the meowth materialized on top of one of the foam platforms.

Claws dug in. It looked around nervously, taking in the damp air, the smell of chlorine, the unstable, terrifying undulating motion beneath it. It meowed pitiably.

The girl took no notice of the cat's distress. She seemed to think, then picked a pokeball. "Attack, Goldeen!"

A fish formed in the air, falling into the water with a plunk and then resurfacing to stare at its enemy.

The meowth meowed again. It was young, wild, and used to a life of what humans would call cowardice - run from the strong, prey on the weak. It had never seen the boy after he caught it. Had he let it out, it would probably have gained an inexplicable sense of devotion, enough to make it grit its teeth and jump into the water, to claw at the goldeen until one or the other was called back. But it did not have that devotion, at least, not yet. Right now, it was scarcely even aware of the boy. All it wanted to be on dry land, but to get there it would have to swim and it was terrified of the thick, sucking water.

It was not going to move. But it was not a pet, either, hadn't been raised from a kitten, taught to look to others for help. It did not think to cry to its trainer, did not even understand it had a trainer. It did not know that it was possible to be recalled safely from the fight.

And Elliot, not recognizing that it was unable to move, thought it was willing to fight. Or more accurately, he was already assuming that, and would continue to until given a definite sign to the contrary, including and perhaps limited to his pokemon fleeing the battle area.

Gears that should be turning in Elliot's head are instead spinning inside the meowth's. It was wild, and wild, there had been no one who would have helped it. It had to think of a way out of this itself.

It meowed a third time, plaintively. It had no idea what to do.

"Goldeen, horn attack!" ordered the girl.

The goldeen beat its tail, hitting the platform from beneath and breaking the soft plastic apart.

The meowth did not know how to swim. Water was a terrifying monster, clutching at it, trying to pull it under and smother it. It flailed wildly, attacking the liquid, and although this wasted most of its energy, its head did stay above the water. The goldeen, seeing its distraction, decided to attack.

The girl, oddly enough, did not seem to notice this weakness. She gave no order.

The goldeen attempted to spear the meowth, but because of the same chaotic frenzy which prompted the attack, it missed. The cat felt the slippery but definitely solid body of the goldeen, and its paws scrabbled on the fish's flesh, struggling to climb onto something solid.

If the goldeen considered the situation, it would sink back under the water. It had an immense advantage over landbound pokemon. Underwater it would be completely safe. The meowth would be left to flounder about in the water, until it either made it out or was recalled.

But the panic-stricken attack had infected it with the same irrational fear. It was poorly trained, inexperienced with pokemon battles. Its only thought was to get free. It rolled in the water, trying to shake the meowth off, but the meowth kept scrambling to stay on top of it. The goldeen had no way of grabbing it and pulling it off.

Meowth were pokemon who fought physically, fang and claw. Both were sharp, and as this one tried to use its claws for traction, it was tearing up the fish badly. The goldeen was far from defeated, but chunks had already been torn out. The water was frothing, partially obscuring the two pokemon from their trainer's eyes. But the girl was a gym leader, and she was experienced. She could see enough. "Return!" she yelled.

The flesh under the meowth's paws turned red and insubstantial, and, yowling, it began to thrash about in the water again. The fight had brought it near to the edge, and after a moment it realized this and pulled itself out.

Soaked and gasping, the cat lay prostrate on the cement. Elliot was not paying attention to it as the girl walked over to him and handed him the badge. He stared at it lying in the palm of his hand, stunned.

* * *

What could be happening? R&R!


	4. Michael

Hi everyone! Thanks for reviewing so far. I'll try to take the advice you give if I can. I'd do what Kazeto Tamashii said about capitalizing, but it drives my eyes nuts. Sorry. I'm used to only capitalizing names, so reading 'the Pokemon' just looks like a mistake to me. And when I try to, I end up writing it half capitalized and half uncapitalized. At least this way it's consistent ^^;

I'll try my best to give Elliot more of a personality. He's supposed to be pretty ordinary, but he is the main character of this, more or less, so he shouldn't be boring either.

And if you have any other suggestions or see mistakes, please say so!

* * *

"Thank you so much!" gushed the girl. She was a teen, perhaps fifteen years old, the upper end of the trainer spectrum. Her hair was a dirty blonde, her eyes a dark shade of hazel, and she was dressed casually, in shorts and an unadorned shirt. There was nothing in her appearance to dissuade viewers, attracted by the noise, of the childishness her voice projected. There was also no way of telling what she was thanking the Joy so happily about. A single pokeball had been handed over, but the Joy hadn't said a single word about irresponsible battling, so it didn't appear her pokemon was badly hurt. The watchers looked back to whatever they were doing originally. There was nothing of interest or significance here.

"You may want to avoid battling with it for a few days," said the Joy, but there were no longer listeners to think to themselves, _how strange_.

* * *

Elliot was not skipping – boys don't skip, he believed. He was, instead, doing everything but skip as he walked out. He had won his first battle and gotten his first badge in one single, brilliant fight. He could still scarcely believe he had actually won against a gym leader, even with the proof held tightly in his fist. And on his first try, just like the trainers in stories.

He hadn't eaten lunch – how could he, with the Cerulean Gym right there? – and now he began to look for something to eat.

Cerulean had plenty of indoor restaurants, most selling cheap, simple meals. Elliot wasn't interested in going into one of them to eat, though. He was too excited to sit still inside for a meal. Luckily, despite the abundance of traditional restaurants, there were also strangely plentiful roadside stalls, and it was from one of these that Elliot bought a hamburger.

Chewing it happily, he wandered, as lost as before. He didn't mind. With every bite he was reminded that he had gone and bought something himself. At home, he had eaten what his mother made for him without much choice in the matter. Now he was grown-up and could eat whatever he wanted.

It had still not occurred to him that he should ask for directions. Even when it finally did, he would probably still refrain. Only children had to ask for directions.

He was looking for a Pokemart, and, as luck might have it, he found one without much trouble. Inside, he purchased another bag of pokemon food.

Pokemon feeding, like everything else, had a set of advice that trainers weren't seriously expected to follow. Most were fed intermittently, which did not seem to have any ill effect.

The advice given on the matter, though, was commonly repeated and there were no conflicting versions circulating to confuse matters, so Elliot, like most new trainers, understood he should feed his pokemon regularly.

Elliot, his supplies replenished, bought popcorn from another vender and went into a park.

The park was rather like an inverse of the forest. The grass, trees and bushes were all the same, but now, there was a greater percentage of open space and a correspondingly smaller percentage of trees. Elliot did not find this noteworthy. He did not even notice.

"Go!" he shouted.

His growlithe appeared, tail wagging. It barked, jumping up against him.

The meowth's response was far less exuberant. A lot of the water seemed to have vanished and it noticed it was nowhere near the cold, strange-smelling pond, but its fur was still damp and mussed. An instant later, it noticed the fire pokemon and stiffened. The growlithe was big. The meowth was not in its territory. It was tired. It did not want to fight.

The puppy paid less attention to its surroundings. It took a moment before it realized there was another pokemon. It did notice this was the same one it had attacked before. It got off Elliot and went over to sniff the new arrival.

The meowth froze, tense, as the growlithe's huge muzzle filled its vision. In a moment, it would fearfully lash out.

Before that could happen, the growlithe sat back on its haunches. Its head cocked to the side. What was this creature and why wasn't it doing anything?

The meowth took the opportunity to do what it wanted to do to start with. It ran.

But not far. A quick sprint took it to the nearest tree, and, feeling safer, it looked back, to see the growlithe had not moved, and was merely watching it with the same puzzled look.

Somewhat mollified, the meowth turned to the vital and pressing matter of its fur. It began to lick the fur on its back meticulously, fluffing and flattening the hairs into the correct arrangement.

Elliot missed the finer facets of this interplay. He saw only that the two had met, and that the meowth seemed aloof and not interested in making friends.

The meowth, of course, had no concept of 'friends'. The thought that the growlithe wished to be friendly did not occur to it. As a kitten, it had been with littermates, but it was older now. They had split up and gone their separate ways, and the part of its life where it had companions was over. 

But it still was young enough to remember them. The growlithe was an alien thing, but as it grew more familiar, the meowth would accept it, then accept its overtures. It would treat the growlithe as another, odd sibling.

Not yet, though. And Elliot didn't understand this. He got bowls from his backpack, and then the bag of food. He placed a handful in each bowl.

The growlithe came over immediately. It began chewing at the pellets with apparent enjoyment.

The meowth sniffed. It smelled the food, but it was not what the meowth thought of as food. The pellets were not pure meat – they might not, for that matter, have any kind of meat in them. The meowth couldn't tell what they were supposed to be. But it did see the growlithe was eating.

Although the pellets did not look appetizing to Elliot, he thought the reason the meowth did not approach was that it was still being standoffish. He decided to try to make friends by offering it the food directly. He picked up the bowl and approached.

The meowth responded strangely. Had the growlithe done this, the meowth would doubtlessly have reacted violently. Yet as the boy came closer, it did no more than watch warily. When Elliot offered the dish, it shrank back momentarily, but then leaned forward and sniffed the food. Elliot set the bowl down, and the meowth took a tentative bite.

It tasted...odd, just like it smelled. But it was not unpalatable, and the meowth, in the wild, ate whatever it could get. The quantity of the food, and having it all to itself, was what was important. After the first few bites the meowth sped up, until it was barely chewing. This, by Elliot, was taken as acceptance, and that was not too far off.

The pokemon played for a while as Elliot finished his popcorn. Or rather, the growlithe played and the meowth watched warily, still unsure of how to deal with this vastly new situation.

Elliot stood and brushed himself off. "Return, Howler," he said. The growlithe turned a bright red in mid-twist and vanished. The meowth was not alarmed by this. Scarcely noticing the growlithe's disappearance, it inspected the boy.

"You need a name too," Elliot said thoughtfully. He held out his hand to the meowth, and instead of swatting at this apparent attack, the meowth held still, then sniffed. After a moment, it rubbed against his hand timidly. He petted it, feeling the gold charm on its forehead. "Charmer," he said. "That's your nickname. Okay?"

Charmer, who had no idea what he was saying, made no objection. Elliot recalled it. It was getting late now, starting to grow cool and dark, and he headed back toward the Pokemon Center.

It didn't take quite as long to go back to the Pokemon Center as it did to get to the park, but he still wandered a bit and took a few wrong turns. When he got inside, he learned that the meal would be ready soon, and there was room for him to stay the night. He called his mother on one of the video phones – she'd made him promise he'd call her the moment he got to the next town, but he'd forgotten in the excitement – and told her he'd gotten a badge and a new pokemon, who he showed her. She seemed happy, either not noticing or not caring about the implied fact that he must have gotten there earlier if he already had a badge. By the time he finished talking to her, the food was ready.

He sat down on one of the benches with his bowl of soup and bread.

There was a boy sitting nearby. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hi." Elliot sat.

"You're a new trainer, aren't you?"

"Y-yeah, I guess," said Elliot, wondering if he'd done something wrong. "Why did-?"

"You've got the look."

"The look?"

"You stare like everything's new. You've only got two pokemon, and low-level at that."

"Oh." Elliot couldn't decide if that was bad. He took a bite of bread instead. "Why are you here?"

"The badge, of course."

Elliot thought. This hadn't occurred to him before, but – "How long have you been a trainer?"

"Four years now." The boy smiled. "Wondering what took me so long?"

"Well…" Elliot felt almost embarrassed, as if he'd mentioned something he shouldn't have..

"I started over in Johto. Got the eight there, fought a bit."

"Oh," said Elliot. That made sense. "I just went to the gym here."

"And won, right?"

Elliot nodded. "Yeah. It was really close."

The other boy sighed, covering his face with his hand. "With what? I probably don't want to know."

"My meowth," Elliot said, pointing at it lying on his backpack.

The boy groaned. "That's a new one."

"What?" Elliot was baffled.

The boy glanced around absently. "How long've you had it?"

"I caught it yesterday."

The boy choked on his soup. "Yesterday?" he repeated. "That's gotta be a new record."

Elliot was getting more and more confused. "Is – that bad?"

The boy glanced around again. He didn't look particularly nervous, but Elliot couldn't tell why he was doing it. "No," the boy said flatly. He was staring at the Joy behind the counter on the other side of the room. "No."

The boy introduced himself as Michael. He'd been traveling in Kanto for about a year and a half. He'd gotten the badges of Johto with relative ease, something he attributed to 'challenging Pryce and Clair first', whatever that was supposed to mean. Elliot didn't want to ask. He thought it might be something everyone was supposed to know, and he didn't want to admit he didn't.

"Have you gone to the gym?" Elliot asked.

The boy seemed distant, like he was thinking about something, weighing his options. "I'm planning to go to a tournament in Saffron," he said. "It'll be held soon."

"Cool. Is it hard? Do you have to have badges or anything?"

"Not really. You should enter. You'll probably do fine."

"Really?" said Elliot.

"Sure. I'm almost curious to see how far you'll get."

* * *

So what do you think? R&R!


	5. Hoenn, Two Battles, Exchange

The plot thickens!...well, okay, more like the plot starts. Took me long enough, huh? I'll try to speed things up.

* * *

Jenny rubbed her infant son's back absently as she walked by the white-painted crib. He gurgled happily up at her, his green eyes sparkling, and she paused to smile slightly at him before continuing to the next room and picking up the phone. It was the color of eggshells, the same color many phones were. Nothing that grabbed the eye. It simply faded into the background of the house, unnoticed until needed. Like now.

She dialed the number quickly, as if she'd done it a thousand times before, scarcely even looking at it. It rang twice before being picked up.

"Hello," said a voice. It was lower-pitched than Jenny's, the sex indeterminate.

"This is Jenny 597," she said. Her face was impassive, detached. "There is a minor problem. My son."

A pause. "Is anyone there?"

"No. He just left."

-

-

Michael stretched and yawned loudly as he walked along. Elliot was still too sleepy to bother with such things. He stared down at the road with half-lidded eyes. His legs felt detached from the rest of him, and he wobbled slightly with each step.

"How can you get up so early?" he whined.

"Practice," said Michael with satisfaction, surveying the town in the morning light. His eyes stopped on the unguarded newspapers in a large red machine. He sauntered over and, after a quick, almost automatic glance around, he jiggled the latch until he managed to fish one out.

"I don't see what's so hard about just buying it," said Elliot absently, his voice still dulled with sleep.

"That's just it. Nothing. Besides, cheat the system, you know? Not that anyone really cares. I even asked a joy once, she said it's just to keep people from taking more than one," Michael said, smacking the paper open and scanning the contents. "Weird."

"What?"

The older boy glanced up at Elliot for a moment before his eyes returned to the paper. "It says that the jenny's kid died yesterday. I didn't know they had kids. Never saw one pushing a baby carriage around."

"That's too bad. What happened?"

"Seems like his heart just gave out or something like that. It's more a sympathy piece then an attempt at giving actual news. It does say the baby was a newborn. Sometimes infants just die for no reason. It's not really important."

"Yeah, I guess, but it's sad, don't you think?" said Elliot, his voice slow and drowsy.

Michael shrugged and flipped to another section of the paper.

"Hey, what's that?" Elliot asked, pointing toward an oddly-proportioned building. There was nothing he could have singled out as strange, but contrasted with the surrounding structures, it stood out like an alien construct. Architecture in Kanto was invariably uniform. This building was somehow different, perhaps more squat and rounded. It seemed to simply take up more space, a fat building squished into line with the rest of the street shops. The sign above the door, looking somehow like an overstuffed sausage, said Hoenn Alliance.

"Huh," said Michael, looking back up from the paper. "I've heard about those. They're here to speed relations between Hoenn and Kanto. I think they're being set up in Johto too. They give out Hoenn stuff and information."

"Cool," said Elliot, excitement driving back lingering drowsiness. He went inside, Michael following almost reluctantly.

A man was behind the counter, just like at a Pokemart. Comfortingly, he even looked similar. One the wall was a series of familiar-yet-strange items. A white and pink pokeball, a collection of bizarre berries, a booklet with several alien pokemon – a green, leafy lizard, a red pokemon with a beak and feathers, but fists instead of wingtips, and a large blue pokemon which looked like a cross between a quagsire and a venusaur.

"Would you like a packet?" the man asked. "They come with one random pokemon out of three." Elliot nodded, and the man reached down and retrieved a bag. He handed it to the boy across the counter, without needing to take a single step, then turned toward Michael. "Would you like a packet?"

Michael shook his head. "No thanks."

They left the building, Elliot now with a faint spring in his step. "I wonder what pokemon I got," he said, digging through the bag. "Why didn't you get any?"

"Who knows why they're giving stuff away like that. I don't want to get involved."

Elliot had managed to find the pokeball. It was the same pink and white he'd seen on display. He turned it over in his hands. He couldn't wait to get to the Pokecenter and see what kind of pokemon he'd gotten. Only half listening, he said, "What do you mean, involved? You're weird. It was just a free giveaway."

"Yeah, maybe," Michael said, looking around calmly. He returned to the paper.

The two rounded a corner, coming upon an open square. A large fountain lay in the center, another group of children sitting on the edge around it, two girls and a boy. They rose.

"Hey," said the boy. He looked about fifteen. "You guys trainers?"

"Kinda obvious, isn't it?" replied Michael, his voice slightly unfriendly.

"Yeah, I guess so." The boy laughed. He stared at Elliot, who was putting the strange pokeball back into the bag. "Wanna fight?"

"I'll fight," said Michael, before Elliot could answer.

One of the girls looked at Michael. "What, won't let him fight on his own? What are you, his brother?" She laughed as well, as if amused by the absurdity of what she'd suggested.

"He's new," said Michael. "Doesn't have much experience. As I'm sure you know."

"I got the Cascade Badge," said Elliot.

"Did you," said the other girl, as if amused. Elliot had no idea why. "Then – "

"I fight first. He can fight next if he wants to," said Michael. "He's not used to judging how strong opponents are."

"Sure, sure, whatever," said the boy, spreading his hands out and shrugging, as if Michael was being overly picky. "Go, Exeggutor!"

"Scyther," Michael said, tossing his own pokeball. "Fury cutter."

"Psychic!"

Before the insect could do anything, the air rippled and he was pushed backward. He slid, clawed feet scratching for purchase on the cement, before regaining his footing and breaking though the attack. The scyther lunged at the treelike pokemon, slashing repeatedly. It took only seconds before the psychic plant fainted.

"Pretty good," said the boy, still good-naturedly. "'Course, practically anyone can do good with a double type advantage."

"And practically no one would use it," retorted Michael, his voice faintly angry.

"True, true. Jynx!" he said, recalling his first pokemon and replacing it with the ice type.

"Slash it, Scyther," ordered Michael.

"Blizzard!"

Shards of ice began to materialize out of the air, then shot at the bug pokemon. The scyther dashed from side to side, trying to dodge as many as he could, while getting closer to the jynx, until it was in within range to use his blades. Then he sliced at the psychic once, a direct blow. The jynx crumpled, but seemed to recover slightly.

"Ice punch!"

The jynx let out a cry and smashed her fist into the scyther's chest. The insect screeched, slashing back wildly. The additional damage was too much and the jynx collapsed.

Scyther remained where he was, breathing heavily, as the other boy recalled the psychic. Ice had formed over the exoskeleton on his chest, and he was bleeding from small nicks in his shell that he had gotten in the previous attack.

"All right," said the other boy impressively. He withdrew a pokeball with a flourish and threw it dramatically. "Go, Quilava!" he yelled, striking a pose.

"Return, Scyther."

The boy made as if to collapse in shock. "What? You mean I wasted all that?" He laughed self-depreciatingly.

Michael didn't look amused. His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "I choose Golduck."

"Quick, Quilava, use headbutt!" yelled the boy.

"Va!" cried the pokemon, charging toward the golduck. She twisted out of the way, but wasn't fast enough. The attack grazed along her side, doing some damage.

"Golduck, surf!"

The water type flung her arms up. Water seemed to materialize out of the cement, forming into a wave, which smashed into the quilava. It struggled, floundering, then fainted.

"Not bad," said the boy. He took out several bills and handed them over. "Your pokemon are pretty strong."

"Those were my strongest," Michael lied.

"Ah, that makes sense," said the boy.

The younger girl, perhaps thirteen, turned to Elliot again. "How about you?"

"I – I don't have – " After seeing the battle, Elliot realized why Michael had been trying to prevent him from fighting. The other trainer had been incredibly strong. So was Michael, for that matter. He supposed he should have realized this – Michael had been a trainer for four years, and had at least eight badges – but somehow, he hadn't thought about it and had just assumed other trainers would be at the same level as he was.

"Just one-on-one then. I just caught a new pokemon, and it needs some experience."

"Okay," said Elliot. He'd already used his growlithe to fight some of the wild pokemon they'd met on the way into town. He picked his meowth's pokeball. "Go, Charmer!"

The small cat appeared. It looked around warily.

"Go, Ekans!"

A similarly undersized snake emerged. It hissed at the meowth, who hissed back.

"Charmer, scratch it!"

Charmer ran forward, jumping onto the ekans and rapidly clawing at it. Thin red lines appeared on the snake's back. It hissed more angrily, twisting to strike.

"Bite attack!"

It lunged, a trifle clumsily from the bad angle, and bit into the meowth, tossing it off. The meowth simply scrambled to its feet and ran back. It bit as well, sinking its small fangs into the ekans' soft scales.

"Constrict!"

The snake contorted to coil around the meowth and squeeze. Charmer cried out in surprise and began to struggle, scratching out small clumps of flesh and scale as it tried to get free. The ekans, surprised and pained, untightened its attack. It was bleeding from shallow wounds but not badly injured.

"Return, ekans!" said the girl. Elliot, about to give another command, started at her in surprise. Like the other boy, she handed him some money.

"Are you guys here for the Trade Convention?" asked the older girl.

"No," said Michael.

"We were just heading toward Saffron," added Elliot helpfully.

"For the tournament there, right? Well, you might want to go to the Convention. They're selling some specialty items, and you might find a good trade there."

"That sounds fun," said Elliot.

"Yes," said Michael, his voice making it clear he didn't think it sounded fun at all. "Let's get going, Elliot."

"Okay. Bye!" Elliot said.

Michael muttered something that sounded like 'fearow' and walked off. Elliot followed. As he left, he saw the older girl run off down another street, sprinting.

"Good, there's the Pokemon Center," said Michael.

Elliot's attention was already on something else. "Look, there's a sign about the Trade Convention." He ran off in the direction of the arrow. Michael paused a moment, then followed.

"Oh, wow," Elliot said in awe. Throngs of trainers were milling about, talking loudly. "This is amazing."

"Try to at least keep your mouth shut while you stare. Haven't you ever seen something like this before?"

Elliot shook his head. "The most trainers we ever had at the same time were groups of three or four passing through."

A girl spied them and detached herself from the mob. "Hey! My name's Angelica! What's yours?"

"Elliot," said Elliot, glancing at Michael. He didn't say anything, but the girl didn't seem to notice.

"Great! You wanna trade?" she said, standing almost on top of him. He stepped back automatically. "I got a murkrow here last year. I've been training it since then, so I think it's time for a switch. What do you have?"

"I – um," Elliot stammered, disconcerted by her enthusiasm. "Um, a growlithe, a meowth – "

"Meowth? Cool! I've always wanted one of those!" She held up a pokeball. "Trade it for my murkrow?"

Murkrow were rare. He'd never seen one outside a book. "Sure," he said. She grinned happily, grabbing his arm and pulling him into the crowd. Michael opened his mouth to say something, but they were gone.

It took less than a minute to find a trading machine and exchange the two pokemon. Elliot wondered for a moment why they couldn't just hand each other the pokeballs, but he forgot about it as he stared in amazement at the huge, strange machine. Before he realized it, he was holding the girl's Greatball in his hands.

Elliot wormed his way out of the crowd to find Michael waiting.

"Aren't you going to trade with anyone?" he asked.

"No way," Michael said, eyeing the crowd. Traded pokemon were only of moderate strength. Fine for nonprofessional trainers, but not serious ones. He'd wind up with a weaker pokemon if he exchanged with anyone. Besides – "You never know what you're getting into."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elliot said. Michael shrugged. "I just got a really rare pokemon! Just for my meowth. And it's probably a lot stronger too. Don't you think that's good?"

"You don't know anything about that girl. She jumped you, offered to trade with you immediately for a common pokemon. You don't find that strange?"

"She didn't trick me," said Elliot with certainty. Trainers didn't lie about trading, he knew that. He opened the Greatball.

"Mur!" cawed the bird, flapping. It landed on the ground, turning its head from side to side to look at him.

"See?" Elliot said.

"That wasn't what I – never mind," Michael said. "Come on, let's get out of here."

* * *

Michael's certainly acting strange. I wonder why that might be .

Elliot got distracted before he could open his Premierball, so that'll happen next chapter. Can you guess what three pokemon the Hoenn Alliance is giving away?


	6. New Pokemon, Saffron

The Pokemon Center was completely normal, so much so that Elliot could barely believe he was actually in another town. An identical Joy took two of his three pokeballs, and Elliot returned to his seat. He looked over the pokeball once more – the booklet he'd gotten had called it a Premierball, whatever that meant – and then hit the button in the center to summon the pokemon.

"Ina!" barked the black, rattata-sized pokemon.

Elliot flipped through the small booklet until he found a picture. "Poochyena?" he said.

The dog barked more, jumping from side to side excitedly.

"Hm…" Elliot said, thinking. The poochyena continued to yap incessantly. "Your nickname will be Din," he said. He held out his hand, which the dark type first sniffed, then bit experimentally. "Ow!"

Michael returned, carrying their pokeballs. "What happened?"

"It bit me!"

The older trainer looked decidedly unimpressed. He looked at Din. "Don't bite. Human skin isn't thick enough. What are you, anyway?"

"Pooch Yena!" the poochyena barked.

"Why're you talking to it?" Elliot asked.

Michael looked at him with the kind of condescending expression people adopt when someone has just made a fool of themselves and remains completely unaware of it. "It won't learn not to bite if you don't tell it," he said. "It was probably just trying to play with you."

"It doesn't understand that," Elliot said with certainty. Everyone knew pokemon weren't as smart as people, so why talk to them as if they were?

"I bet it doesn't understand you when you order an attack either," Michael said dryly.

"That's different!"

Michael shrugged, not interested in arguing it. "Here are your pokemon," he said, handing two pokeballs over. Elliot took them.

"Do your pokemon really understand what you say?" he asked after a moment.

Michael nodded. "More or less. They understand the words you say for the most part. Probably a lot of it they don't actually get, but why would a scyther know about money? If you talk about something they have no experience with, they won't know what you mean. But they can hear us."

Elliot thought. "Din," he tried. "Can you jump up here onto the chair?"

Din barked, scruffy tail wagging. It made a short jump, not enough to make it on cleanly, but managed to climb up after a bit of struggle. It barked again once it was there, looking at Elliot proudly.

"We've got to get going," Michael said.

"What? We just got here."

"And there's no reason to stay. We've got to get to Saffron by tomorrow."

"Yeah, I guess," Elliot said. He'd been hoping they could stay at the Pokemon Center that night instead of camping out. "Return, Din."

-

-

"But we're right here," said Elliot, unaware of the slight whine that had snuck into his voice. "Why shouldn't I fight Sabrina?"

"Trust me," Michael said. "You don't want to fight here."

"Why?"

"You just don't. She doesn't play like the others. You'll lose."

"But I just beat-"

"I know, I know, you've got a badge. But Sabrina is…she's much stronger than that."

"Shouldn't I at least try?"

The older boy looked hesitant, then shook his head. "It's hard to say what can set them off," he said vaguely. "It'd probably be best if you don't lose at a gym for a long as you can."

"What? What are you talking about? Set what off?"

"Trust me," Michael repeated. "When the tournament here is over, go to Fuchsia and Cinnabar and fight there."

"Okay," said Elliot. "But what if I lose at the tournament?"

"That works differently. There's no if, either, you will. Just try hard, look enthusiastic, and expect to win. Especially the last part."

With that decided, they headed to the Pokemon Center to register for the tournament and heal their pokemon.

"What do we do now?" Elliot asked when they were done.

"I'm going to the Pokemart to buy supplies. You can get something to eat or just look around at the sights if you want. We can meet up at the tournament in a few hours when it starts."

"Okay." Elliot headed out of the Center. Despite his lack of a map, it took only minutes before he came to a small restaurant. Inside, he ordered a cheeseburger, fries, and a large soda. He passed the time waiting for it to be brought fiddling with his pokedex. It didn't have data on poochyenas in it, but it had a full list of Johto pokemon. He checked to see where murkrows lived.

_Murkrow__ are found mainly around Johto cities. Unlike most bird pokemon, they are do not form large flocks, nor are they solitary. Instead, they generally form into groups of three to ten. Exact numbers on them are hard to get, in part because of these small groups. Murkrow are usually spotted flying above the city they live in or less commonly, stealing food from garbage. Currently, murkrow are listed as 'common, area-specific' pokemon officially. This means that although the pokemon do not live in a wide variety of areas, they are common in their own areas and are so not under any form of protection._

Why did being in small groups make it hard to figure out numbers? Elliot wondered. He questioned the pokedex.

_Pokemon who live in large groups tend to be the only group in the area. In order to find out how many there are, scientists need only to find the group once._

_Pokemon broken into multiple groups cannot be tallied the same way. Because pokemon are so similar, it is nearly impossible to tell if a second sighting is another group or the same group showing up nearby. Small-group pokemon are also more likely to be active without all the members, so that a group of five might temporarily break into a group of two and three. Watchers could accidentally record this as three groups, one made of two, one of three, and one of five. Pokemon organized like this tend to have their actual numbers overestimated by researchers._

Elliot's food arrived, so he closed his pokedex and began eating. He had never been a fast eater, so it took a while before he was done. Not caring much about sightseeing (what kind of sights were there at Saffron anyway?) he decided to head right over to where the tournament would be held.

Getting there took perhaps a half hour. The tournament wouldn't be starting for another hour. Looking around, he saw that some other trainers had done the same thing, and were now loitering around, either alone or in groups of three or four, talking to each other.

Elliot took out his pokedex again, to read more about murkrow.

_Murkrow__ are generally considered pests, due to their noise, tendency not to be frightened off by humans, the fact they often steal objects and their habits of raiding garbage. They are also said to be mischievous and cunning. Murkow are hard to trap, preventing their removal using normal methods of extermination._

Elliot balked at the last word. Extermination? He closed the pokedex again.

"I didn't expect to see so many demis here," a boy nearby was saying. He looked about thirteen. "Almost half the fighters are over twelve. And arcs too."

"Tournaments like this are too rare. They pay you just for fighting, so so what if it's an unrestricted? There are almost no restricted tournaments. Demis can't get much money 'cept by single battles. Of course they're going to show up," said another boy. "We know the arcs will be here, we know they're watching, but we come anyway."

"Were there this many last year?" asked the first boy. "I wouldn't have noticed. You guys?"

The other boy shrugged. He looked like he was about fifteen. "It'll always look like there are more of them. Maybe there are and maybe there aren't. I don't think anyone lasts long enough to really tell. By the time you can pick 'em out always, times up, thanks for playing."

"You sure? I thought I saw a guy who was a full-"

A girl laughed. "Like you could tell the difference. There aren't any demons, that's just a myth."

There's quiet for a bit. One of the boys turned and noticed Elliot. "Hey," he said. "Who are you?"

"My name's Elliot," he said. "What's yours?"

"I'm Luke." He pointed to the pokeballs on Elliot's belt. "I've never seen that kind of pokeball," he said. "What is it?"

"I think it's called a Premierball. I got it in Chenge from Hoenn Alliance."

The girl, who'd had a cheerful, carefree expression up to that point, suddenly stared at him, seeming almost calculating, like she was sizing up an enemy. Elliot felt nervous.

"There's a Hoenn Alliance building in Chenge? I didn't know that." The boy looked to the other two. "We should go there next."

"Doesn't Chenge have a big trade thing going on about now?" said the girl. "Did you trade anything?"

Elliot wondered why she cared. "Um, yeah. My meowth."

"Oh, that's good. Meowth aren't good pokemon."

Elliot felt slightly insulted for his pokemon. "Why not?"

"They can be vicious," the girl said casually. "Sometimes they go nuts in a fight and actually draw blood. Some people train them, but they usually use bought ones, not wild. And they're not usually that strong either. It's a good thing you traded it."

"Oh," said Elliot uncertainly. Draw blood? It was a pokemon fight. What was the difference between scratching the opponent and electrocuting them? And what did she mean, not strong? "My meowth seemed like it was a good fighter," he said.

The younger boy smiled, as if this was something funny to say. "Poster boy for a cheri," he said.

The girl hit him lightly on the head. "Cheri don't get called cheri!" Turning back to Elliot, she said, "Ignore him. Please."

"What's a cheri?" Elliot asked.

"It's a-"

"A new trainer," the girl said, interrupting the older boy and shooting him a glance. "It's another word for a new trainer."

If that was all it was, why wasn't it okay to say it to him? And Elliot still had no idea what they'd been talking about earlier.

"My name's Luci," said the girl, as if she'd just remembered. "We were planning to head to Violet next. You?"

"I'm going to Fuchsia," Elliot said.

"Koga? Aren't you ambitious. Why not Erika?" The girl sounded almost suspicious.

"I-I wanted to go to the Safari Zone," Elliot said. He didn't know why he'd said that. There was just something about the girl.

"Oh, yes, you need more pokemon, don't you?" The girl's voice had relaxed.

_"Attention all trainers,"_ boomed the loudspeaker. _"The trainer listings have just been posted. Report into the arena to learn the order of battles."_

Elliot headed inside. He found his name over near the left side of the display. Looking around, he saw Michael standing in the crowd. "Hey," he said. "Where're you?"

"Here," Michael said, pointing to the far right side. "I'm one of the last ones."

The battles started.

-

-

"Ember!" Elliot shouted. He'd made it up to the second round. The battles, as was the usual in most tournaments, had been three-on-three, so that he had enough pokemon. But because he only had that many, they had to fight in each battle and he didn't have any replacements for fainted pokemon. Both Din and Caw had already been knocked out, and Howler was getting tired.

"Bubblebeam!"

Howler tried to attack, but was stunned by exploding bubbles and finally collapsed.

Elliot, disappointed despite Michael's earlier warning he wouldn't win, recalled him and walked off the field.

-

-

The girl – a lass, in common slang – was proving to be a decent opponent. She was about fifteen, probably one of the trainers who started late, around eleven, and trained haphazardly after that, easily distracted. She might never have even gotten around to fighting a gym leader, probably staying near her town and not venturing far.

Her pokemon so far had been a nidorina and a raticate. She wasn't a bad trainer. Others of her ilk would have abandoned the raticate and perhaps the nidorina when they evolved. She was not skilled either. She'd never started with the intent of becoming a master, just out to catch cute pokemon, have fun in battles, and perhaps explore nearby forests and fields.

Michael was in an entirely different league, the difference between the amateur hobbyist and the preparing professional. He didn't think poorly of his opponent's lack of drive. She'd done what she wanted. A serious trainer with this level of skill might be looked down upon, but she'd never pretended to be one. Pokemon trainers were coached to think of battles as friendly competition, so friendly it often stopped being a competition entirely and turned into a game. They were taught not to think much about relative levels of skill, but only the battle at hand.

He was probably going to win this fight. Both of the trainers would think this if either of them were thinking about it. But since she always fought like it was a game, and since Michael didn't expect to win and so wasn't particularly determined, they were both thinking only about the fight itself, not the outcome.

Michael's pokemon were getting tired. He'd already fought several skilled trainers, and they had weakened his pokemon. Of the two he'd used so far, both injured, she'd managed to faint both. His third pokemon had been fresh and knocked out her raticate without much effort.

One to one. The match was already decided. Her pokemon were weak, and although her opponents had been easier, new trainers, his pokemon were just so much stronger than anything she would have trained. Had this been an even match, he'd have been able to beat her with a single pokemon.

Michael's ninetales paced on the field, watching as the girl chose a new pokemon. His tails flicked.

"Go!" she yelled, throwing the pokemon into the air. It spun and broke open, releasing jagged white light.

A psyduck. The ninetales watched it warily. Psyduck were technically water types, but they relied on psychic moves. He didn't worry about losing, as he could tell the other pokemon was at a much lower level, but he did want to avoid any possible water attacks, regardless of if they would cause much damage.

The psyduck seemed unaware of its surroundings or opponent. It looked as if it was imitating an abra. It sat on the ground, stubby webbed feet in front of it, with its eyes closed, apparently asleep.

The ninetales took his eyes off his opponent for a moment, glancing at the girl. Was this a mistake? His trainer did the same.

She looked unworried, so they could only assume it was not. The ninetales resumed his watch of the psyduck, waiting for an attack.

Michael was confused by this turn of events. He'd thought psyduck couldn't fight while asleep. That was abra, and even abra were mainly limited to defensive moves. But based on the girl's behavior, he must have been wrong, or else the psyduck was only pretending to be asleep. Either way, he didn't want to order at attack. He had no idea how the psyduck would behave. Better to give it the first move. His ninetales was quite agile, and could dodge if prepared.

"Watch it, ninetales!" he ordered. The ninetales nodded, circling the psyduck, who still slept or appeared to sleep. It was 'carrying' an odd item, a metal bowl over its head. Michael had never seen that before. It was possible the helmet was a new item, but even so, why would a psyduck of all things have one? A head attack on most psychic pokemon was debilitating, as they would have trouble concentrating and might be unable to attack. Even if they managed a psychic move, it would be weak from their lack of focus. But psyduck were supposed to have a stronger attack the worse their headache became. Why try to protect it from a hit there?

Nothing happened. Michael decided to attack. It was never good to underestimate your opponent, but overestimating them wasn't helpful either. Since the girl had ordered no attack, it was possible she had got the pokemon recently and wasn't familiar with it. Perhaps she thought it would attack while asleep when it really couldn't.

"Quick attack!" he ordered. "But be careful!"

"Nine!" the fire type cried, leaping toward the psyduck.

This was what the girl had been waiting for. Her psyduck had always had trouble aiming its attacks ever since she'd first caught it, so she'd developed the strategy of waiting for the other pokemon to lunge before giving the order, knowing they'd be unable to get out of the way. "Psychic attack!" she yelled, hazel eyes flashing.

The psyduck did not move. Its eyes did not even open. But the ninetales was flung backward like a ragdoll, all the way into and through the walls underneath the stands. It was hard to tell which trainer was more shocked.

The ninetales was not dead. Michael recalled it quickly to preserve this.

* * *

I don't know why, but I had trouble with transitions between scenes in this chapter.

I also don't know if you found the fake-murkrow information boring, sorry if you did. It does have a point, I promise!

Michael's ninetales is pretty badly hurt. What do you think will happen to it? Review!


	7. What She Said

"What the hell do you mean?" Michael screamed.

The Joy was doing her best to keep her voice in a calm, authoritarian tone. "Your pokemon is very badly injured. It's in critical condition right now. You shouldn't have let it fight to this point."

"Are you deaf! He was thrown through a wall! The psyduck used one attack!"

"You shouldn't send out fire types again wat-"

Michael began swearing, yelling as loudly as he could, the words barely intelligible. The last two people not watching now did so. "It was not a water attack! He got like that after a psychic attack! Ninetales are not weak against psychic attacks! He wasn't hit by anything else in the whole damn tournament"

The Joy was not used to dealing with this. Her eyes glanced from side to side desperately, as if hoping someone else would help her. She was used to little ten year olds who brought in sick pokemon they found and would apologize contritely for something that wasn't their fault when confronted by her. "You shouldn't send out pokemon that are badly injured," she tried again.

"Am I not talking loud enough?" Michael shouted, his voice reverberating around the Pokemon Center. He tore his five remaining pokeballs off his belt and shoved them in her face. "You want pokemon I sent out injured! I sent these out! You want to tell me they're in critical condition!"

She backed up. "You should have been more responsible," she said lamely.

"Responsible for what! For sending out a healthy pokemon against an opponent who did this with no warning! What the hell was I supposed to do?"

The Joy looked uncertain. She really did not know what to do. "You should have recalled your pokemon once you realized that-"

"She gave no warning! That was one hit!"

"I-I-" she stammered helplessly.

"Give him back!"

The Joy took the pokeball out of a pocket in her dress. "There'll have to be an investigation," she said.

"Fine! Give me him!"

She handed the pokeball over, looking almost relieved. Fuming, Michael stalked out.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" asked Elliot nervously as he followed. "They might revoke your license."

Michael shook his head sharply. He was walking briskly, radiating anger, but his voice was calm, as it normally was. "They never revoke licenses. Sometimes I think you could shoot your pokemon in front of a Joy and Jenny and they wouldn't revoke your license. Listen, if this ever happens to you, do exactly what I did. Raise a scene. She won't revoke a license. It isn't about that."

"But why do that?"

"I don't know. But a friend of mine, they told him his fearow was dead. Did you hear what the Joy said? She said, 'your ninetales is in critical condition'. You heard her. And she handed his pokeball to me. She had it with her."

"I don't understand."

"I don't either. I just know what happens sometimes. I do stuff because it seems to work but I don't know what's going on. I don't know why it works. I don't even know if it works but I do it anyway." He shook his head again, looking as if he barely remembered Elliot was there. "I don't know if she would have given him back anyway. I don't know if I made it worse. But she said he was hurt, she said he might die; she didn't give me him. What if I waited and she told me he was dead? He's high-level, they- she might-" His voice broke off. He stopped walking for a moment, looking at Elliot. "I'll have to stay here a few days while they sort this out. I'd advise you leave now. You have to hurry. You aren't getting any younger." He laughed, although he didn't sound like it was a joke.

"Are you going to get into trouble?"

"No. I've got all my pokemon. What else can they do? That's something you need to remember. Don't hand them over when they ask." He looked around, the same calm, unworried motion he'd made when they first met. "I should get going. No need for you to lose your chance by hanging around me. Listen, you should try not to attract attention for as long as you can. Don't do anything they'll notice. And when you fight a gym leader, send out a weak pokemon second. This is important, okay? Look like it's all you have. Understand?" He walked off quickly, not waiting for an answer.

Elliot stood still, staring after him as pedestrians walked by. He felt as if something significant had occurred, but he'd missed the meaning entirely.

After a while, he headed back to the Pokemon Center, where his pokemon were still held. No one looked up or noticed him as he walked in the door.

He felt slightly sick, his stomach hurting the way it did when he was anxious. He sat down on one of the benches, waiting uneasily for the Joy to announce his pokemon. After what Michael said, he couldn't shake the feeling she'd say one of them was dead when she came out.

The Pokemon Center was almost full. More trainers had come in since he'd left, and others were still entering. They were quiet. All of them had lost.

Before long the Joy gave him his pokemon, smiling the same way she always did. He thanked her and walked out, leaving the city and heading south.

* * *

Sorry, The Mad Tortoise, but the ninetales wasn't killed. Wouldn't have made sense, as we'll see an upcoming chapter. Hopefully what did end up happening wasn't too stereotypical…

So, honorable reviewers, what did you think of the chapter? Confusing? Boring? Too short? Complain away. I might do something about it. What have you got to lose?


	8. Golbat, Stones, Another Pokemon

When nidorina are with their friends or family, they keep their barbs tucked away to prevent hurting each other. This pokemon appears to become nervous if separated from the others.

            - Ruby Pokedex

"Ow…" Elliot whimpered, rubbing his nose. That was the fifth invisible wall he'd walked into, and his opinion of them had changed from being an extraordinary and clever idea to the belief they were the brainchild of a sadistic architect. He was completely lost. Not that he'd really known where he was going inside the building, but…

He stumbled over a knot in the wooden floor and threw out his hand. It caught on a wall – which immediately proved it was not a wall by sliding to the side. Off balance, Elliot tumbled ungracefully through into a large room.

A man laughed, a bit arrogantly, the sound booming in the quiet room. "So, you managed to find your way here. I am Koga. If you can win against my three pokemon, you will be rewarded with the Soul Badge."

Elliot nodded, accepting.

"Go, Venumoth!"

"Howler! Ember!"

Howler spat out several small glowing balls toward the bug type. It let out a chittering shriek of pain, thrashing its huge wings. A shimmering blue powder was released. Howler sneezed, then yawned.

"Flamethrower!" yelled Elliot quickly.

Howler, looking drowsy, opened his mouth again and exhaled a large burst of flame. It burned through the dust and scorched the venumoth. Koga recalled it.

"Go, Golbat! Supersonic!"

The bat opened its enormous jaws. Elliot couldn't hear anything, but Howler apparently could. The growlithe buried his head under his paws, whining.

"Wing attack!"

"Tackle attack, quick!"

Howler lifted his head but didn't respond before the larger pokemon smacked him with a wing, knocking him to the side. He got back up and tried to run at the golbat, but stumbled and hit the ground headfirst. This time, he stayed there.

"Return, Howler! Go, Din!"

The smaller puppy replaced the fire type, yapping defiantly.

Koga looked almost as though he was calculating something. Then the expression was gone and Elliot wasn't sure if he'd just imagined it. "Bite!"

"Din, use bite yourself before it gets you!"

Din latched onto the golbat's wingtip, biting into the thin skin for purchase and wiggling around to further throw the flying-type's balance off. They crashed into the ground together, a short fall of perhaps half a foot. Din jumped back to her feet immediately, barking. The golbat didn't look badly hurt either, with just a smudge of red from where Din's fangs had pierced. Koga recalled it, surprising Elliot.

"Ariados, go! Use spiderweb!"

Before Din could move, the spider pokemon had covered her in sticky white threads. She struggled, but only made the tangle worse. Elliot recalled her.

He was lucky Koga had sent out a bug type. "Go, Caw!" he yelled.

Koga looked…Koga looked…Elliot couldn't understand it. Almost angry. Like he'd been tricked.

"Sludge bomb!" Koga ordered.

"Caw, fly out of the way, then dive at it!"

The murkrow flew upward, dodging the ball of slime the ariados tossed. Then he dove down again, knocking the giant spider across the arena. It was over in a single hit. Elliot had won.

Koga's expression was aloof and controlled, nearly the same as it had been at the start of the match, perhaps a bit more respectful. He cordially handed Elliot a badge. "You fought well," he said, sounding sincere, and Elliot again wondered if he'd imagined the gym leader's look earlier.

Yet somehow, for all the words seemed honest, Elliot felt unsettled, a feeling that didn't leave until he was well away.

-

Elliot wasn't sure what he should do next. He'd been lying a bit when he'd told Luci he intended to go to the Safari Zone, but now that he was in Fuchsia, he didn't see any reason not to. He did need more pokemon.

He headed back up through the city. Like the gym, the Safari Zone was placed on the outskirts of town. The gym was to the south, and the Safari Zone was to the north.

He entered the zoo first. Not all of the pokemon in the zoo came from the Safari Zone, nor were all pokemon that could be found in the Safari Zone represented in the zoo. They were all mildly rare, not the sort that could be easily found in the wild but certainly purchasable. Truly rare pokemon are never in a zoo. They're on a trainer's belt, or perhaps the weakest in a lab somewhere.

The enclosures were all simple, made of simple wood fencing and hedges. The hedges were more of a barrier.

Elliot, perhaps because he had just come from a battle and pokemon power was fresh in his mind, wondered at this. The lapras was stuck, of course, by the end of the water, but why didn't any of the others leave? Perhaps they didn't want to, he thought, but then, why were there barriers at all?

He forgot his questions once he went into the Safari Zone entrance. He handed over the fee to the attendant and walked through the gate.

The ground inside was strangely hard and dry, with scraggly, rough grass growing in patches. Huge slabs of rock were scattered about, with crude steps carved in their sides. It was exotic-looking. Elliot began exploring.

He saw some nidoran and oddish, nothing he was interested in. He wasn't entirely sure what it was he wanted. He'd gone in based on the vague idea that he should have more pokemon, but which, he didn't know.

He heard a noise from behind one of the huge rocky plateaus. He clambered up the light brown stone, looking for the source, but only caught a glimpse of a large blue pokemon, with strange, circular ears and a huge mouth, as it disappeared into the grass. He didn't recognize it, but he didn't know a lot of pokemon. He decided against trying to follow it but resolved to search his pokedex to find out what it was.

The sound had stopped, so it must have been the noisemaker. He climbed back down from the outcrop, to look around at the inner area.

Part of the rock had been shattered somehow. The break was round, as if something had smashed into it. Elliot noticed how strange the jagged fragments from the broken area were, standing out from the rest of the smooth, rounded rock. Rock didn't break like that, he thought. Not neatly, with flat sides and sharp edges, like it'd been cut. Breaking was supposed to be random, like when you tossed a snowball and it fell apart. He picked up one of the bits gingerly and tossed it against the main stone. The piece split, and Elliot stared in surprise at the clean break. Picking up the two pieces, he realized he could fit them together so perfectly he couldn't even see the crack. Weird. He wondered if whatever had broken the rock had left unnatural fractures in the stone.

There was nothing else of interest, so he headed further into the Safari Zone. He saw a clump of nidorina, who let out frightened barks and vanished instantly, so tightly packed and quick moving they looked almost like one creature. He was confused by this, as none of the other pokemon he'd seen so far seemed scared. They'd mainly ignored him unless he tried to approach. This second oddity held his thought longer than the first. He mulled over it as he explored, looking for that pokemon, whatever it might be, that he wanted to catch.

He could see other trainers stalking pokemon. The pokemon didn't seem to be trying to be caught, but they weren't trying to get away either, with the exception of those strange nidorina he'd seen earlier. They didn't run until the trainer was almost next to them. The balls they were hit by wiggled like they were trying to escape, but Elliot couldn't see any of them trying to stay out of range of the Safariballs.

He wondered for the first time whether pokemon wanted freedom, only musing, but still, he wondered. If they didn't want to be caught, why didn't they try to avoid the trainers? Some of them would actually watch the trainers approach, only running when they got too close. Did they just not understand what would happen? But no, he'd seen some of the pokemon break out of Safariballs and yet still not run. It didn't make any sense.

He'd heard something about pokemon testing their trainers, seeing if they were worthy. Perhaps that was it.

He continued on, heading deeper into the park.

Elliot heard noise again. It didn't sound quite the same but he went that way, hoping it'd be the same kind of pokemon and that he'd get a better look at it this time.

But no, it was a jigglypuff, which seemed to be fighting with a male nidoran. There was something strange about it. Jigglypuff were common pokemon, and he'd seen them before. He couldn't tell exactly what looked different, though. He pulled out his pokedex and pointed. "Jigglypuff," it said, "the balloon pokemon. When its huge eyes light up, it sings a mysterious, soothing melody to lull enemies to sleep." The picture was of an almost perfectly round pink ball with pointed ears, gigantic, melting liquid blue eyes, and a large tuff of fur curled on its forehead.

The pokemon before him wasn't quite the same. Its coloring was slightly more purplish, its eyes large but not as large, its ears slightly rounder and curled over a bit. Its body looked slightly thinner than that in the picture, although Elliot realized that, checking the stats his pokedex gave, it was actually a bit wider, but taller by almost a half foot than normal, making it seem slimmer. Most noticeably, the noise it was making was far from soothing. Jarring cries filled the air. The nidoran was flattened against the ground, paws over his large ears.

Elliot, on a whim, flung a Safariball at the pokemon. It looked surprised as the device struck it. The pokeball wiggled twice, then quieted. As Elliot went to retrieve it, the nidoran skittered off.

His time was almost up. He headed back.

As Elliot exited the Safari Zone, he noticed a poster covering the wall. No, he realized, it wasn't a poster. It was an electronic screen, with the names of trainers on it.

_Perfect Haul_ read the title. Below it, it explained that it listed trainers who'd managed to catch pokemon in every one of their Safariballs. There were a lot of names.

Elliot could almost hear the 'gotta catch 'em all' slogan echo in his head. He knew that everyone always said to catch as many as you could, but suddenly, faced with it so transparently, he felt it seemed…well, foolish. Why catch thirty pokemon, just to put twenty-four into your PC? Trainers could only carry and use six at a time. Sometimes people raised more than that, alternating their pokemon to give them all even experience, gambling that the greater diversity would make up for having overall weaker pokemon. But no one would ever use thirty pokemon.

Looking at the list, he realized that some of the names showed up repeatedly. In fact, many of the names were there at least twice, some four or five times.

"Pretty long list, huh?" said a boy. He'd walked up to see it as well. He was about as tall as Elliot, and might have been younger. He wasn't a trainer, Elliot could tell.

"Yeah," Elliot said, not sure how to respond.

"It used to be hard to get on," the boy continued conversationally. "But then people figured out that if you just go after weak pokemon that won't break balls, it's easier, so people started to just catch thirty oddish or some other pokemon like that. They're going to change the rules soon, I heard, so that you get points for how hard the pokemon is to catch."

"Who'd catch thirty oddish?" Elliot asked.

"Oh, lotsa kids here are bored enough. Their PCs are stuffed with 'em," the boy said carelessly.

"John!" called a woman.

"Well, gotta go," he said, walking off.

-

"There's no ferry?" Elliot repeated, dumbfounded.

The man nodded. "That's what I said."

"But- but-" Elliot gestured inarticulately toward the water. "It's right there. Why not?"

"How should I know," the man grumbled. "There's no ship to Cinnabar. You want to get there, you've got to go west, past the mountains, down to Pallet. The ships run there, and they'll take you."

Elliot was baffled – why would there be ships running on one half of the route and not the other? – but there was definitely no way of getting to Cinnabar from here, so he headed west, toward Viridian.

-

"Someone told you that?" The girl's voice was angry. Elliot shrank back slightly. "I'm sorry," she apologized quickly. "I just can't believe it. They're everywhere. Going to Erika-" She shook her head. "No one but an arc would say that."

Elliot had met Gabrielle on his way toward Viridian. She was going to Cerulean, and had offered to go with him until they got to the mountains. She was sixteen, the oldest trainer he'd ever met or heard of, outside of stories. Figuring she might know better what was going on, he'd recounted some of the stranger things that'd happened.

"So you know what it means?"

The older girl looked indecisive. "Well…" She sighed. "I suppose you're already in it. We don't usually tell new trainers, figure it's best to just let you have fun and drop out on your own, without anything bad happening. Plenty of cherubs quit on their own, without League interference.

"I don't know where the terms came from, if you're wondering. I heard from someone once that it started back when older trainers where nicknamed demons, but I don't know if that's true or even if there ever were older trainers. Anyway, the rest followed, or so I heard. So you guys are the cherubs, you're cute, innocent and not really the most intimidating fighters. I'm demi, a trainer who's got stronger pokemon than a cherub, doesn't look young enough, and has some idea of what's going on. Not much, not why, but what happens. Then there's archangels."

She stopped, thinking. "Arcs," she repeated. "They're…well, they're trainers who don't seem like trainers, I guess. Arcs have pokemon that they don't seem to have trained. They show up in Unrestricted tournaments, knock out a couple trainers but never win the title. Rumor has it they're connected with the League somehow, but they're practically invisible. I've never noticed one outside of a tournament. Sounds like the girl you met was one of them, I never knew they traveled with other trainers."

"But how can you tell they're not just good trainers?"

Gabrielle shrugged. "They seem wrong. Off."

"But then what are they?"

"Some demi think they're League watchdogs. They keep tabs on trainers, make sure no one gets too-strong pokemon or wins too much. They try to keep the cherubs and demi separate – that's why demi don't win at Unrestricted tournaments. Me, I don't know. You just see them, trainers whose pokemon are always strong but never go out of control or do even slightly too much damage. Trainers who can beat demi but not cheri."

Elliot thought this sounded a little farfetched, but didn't say anything. The idea of League spies and all that sounded too much like some paranoid conspiracy theory. "And Michael's ninetales?" he asked.

"I don't see why a Joy couldn't claim a pokemon was still injured when it wasn't," Gabrielle said, sounding strangely bitter. "If she says it's dead, what are you supposed to do, demand to see it? She's supposed to be the ultimate authority."

"That sounds more like something Team Rocket would do," Elliot said. "Pretend to be a Nurse Joy and steal pokemon that way."

"Yeah, maybe," said Gabrielle. "Just remember, if you want to make it as a trainer, don't take things at face value."

* * *

You don't need to take Gabrielle completely seriously, what she says is just what she thinks, and she could always be wrong about some of it or all of it. Well, now you know some of the slang.

Does everyone know how rocks break?

Next chapter: more things happen. Surprising, huh? We learn why Gabrielle doesn't like the Joys and why she's going to Cerulean. Something happens with a nidorina. And…well, you'll just have to see!


	9. Life, Death, A Cheerful Joy

Thanks for the reviews! It's really motivating.

Eatacheesemonkey, you're so suspicious. Why believe there's something wrong with the murkrow? Is it that hard to believe a random trainer would jump Elliot, offer to trade with him by the second pokemon he mentioned, and offer a rare, higher level pokemon for his common, lower level one? Why, of course not. There's no reason the trainer would need an ulterior motive.

And Charles RocketBoy, why shouldn't we trust the League? Sure, we don't really know anything about them, but they must be nice. After all, I bet you've never known of a pokemon death or anything bad like that happening. So I'm sure they tell the truth.

I don't know why everyone's so mistrustful. Everything is going fine. Nothing is wrong.

* * *

Elliot and Gabrielle were setting up camp.

Mainly Gabrielle. Obviously used to it, she had chosen a good location, and was now directing her pokemon to help dig a shallow pit for the fire, and gather wood while she set up the tent. Elliot watched in amazement. "They really understand you," he said.

"Yeah," she said, smiling as she slid rods into the canvas. "They're really not as brainless as they're made out to be. They don't just understand me either, they can talk back."

"You mean, like us?"

She laughed. She'd been in a good mood for all of the walk through the forest. "No, I don't think any pokemon can talk the same way as humans. They have to say the same thing. But that's not meaningless. If you pay attention, it all starts to make sense. It's actually really easy to do. It only took about a week or so for me."

"Oh," said Elliot in a small voice. "But I've never…"

"That's okay," she reassured. "It's just a matter of trying. I knew trainers as old as me who couldn't understand a word, and others who learned it right after leaving home. You can't learn until you know there's something to learn."

It'd never seemed like Howler was saying anything. Elliot resolved to try harder. In stories, he remembered, the great trainers, the ones who became masters, they could sometimes talk to their pokemon. He wanted to be able to do that too.

Once camp was set up and the meal cooking, Elliot realized she'd only sent out five pokemon. He wondered if she just hadn't caught a full team, but didn't think it would be polite to ask about that.

Bored with the silence, he asked, "Why are you going to Cerulean?"

"There's a pokemon researcher there, and he's supposed to be interested in everything about them. I was hoping he'd take a look at one of mine."

"Why?"

"Well…" She looked reluctant, but then opened one of the small pockets of her bag and took out a pokeball. She broke it open, releasing a ponyta with a huge, distended belly. Elliot recoiled.

"What happened to it?"

"Oh, it's okay," she said, seeing his look. "She's pregnant, that's all."

"You mean, she's going to lay an egg?" Elliot knew a bit about pokemon.

"No, that's the thing. Come here." She placed his hand on the ponyta's side. He felt something move.

Elliot yelped, jerking his hand away. The ponyta shifted slightly, but didn't startle at the noise. "What was that?"

"I thought it was an egg at first too. But as far as I can tell, she's going to give birth live."

"But pokemon don't."

"I know." She recalled the ponyta, who had started to fidget uneasily.

"Why go all the way to Cerulean? Can't you just show it to one of the Joy?"

"I did," she said, her voice angry. "First thing I tried when I realized something was wrong. That stupid-" She caught herself. "She tried to convince me it was a failed egg – one where the shell hadn't formed. That's impossible. I worked in a daycare when I was younger. Pokemon lay eggs even if the shell isn't hard enough. Then she tried to tell me it was different, that the embryo had lodged inside her, that it would kill her it if wasn't removed."

"And you're sure?"

She nodded sharply. "Embryos don't just develop all by themselves. If she's carried it this long, if it's grown this big, she has to have been built to do so. If she's naturally only able to lay eggs, if this is really is just a mistake, she'd miscarry on her own, or she'd have died by now."

"So it is natural, then."

"I don't know for sure, but that's what I think. She doesn't know much either, she's something like tenth generation, raised by humans all her life."

-

-

Discord, Elliot's newly named jigglypuff, opened his mouth and began to let out horrible, grating noise.

The two trainers flinched. The wild rattata Discord was fighting did more than flinch. It screeched in pain, pressing again the ground.

This was not what Elliot had meant to happen. He'd meant for Discord to use a sing attack. He'd forgotten about how he'd found Discord to start with, and had given the vague order for Discord to 'use his voice'.

When the noise stopped, Gabrielle suggested mildly that he might want to use his pokedex to check the attacks jigglypuff learn. Mareepishly, Elliot recalled Discord and began to scroll through attacks.

A minute later, he looked back up, bewildered. "The only vocal attack they're supposed to know besides sing is perish song, and that doesn't hurt to listen to."

"Really?" Gabrielle said. "Well, send it back out and show the pokedex the attack."

Elliot did. "But quieter this time," he told Discord. "Okay?"

Obediently, Discord opened his mouth and began a softer version of the sound he'd made earlier. Elliot pointed his pokedex.

"Jigglypuff, the balloon –" it began.

"Tell it to analyze the attack," Gabrielle hissed. "And hurry up."

"What attack is Discord using?" Elliot said.

The screen fuzzed. "No data."

"Aw…" Elliot sighed. "Okay Discord, thanks." He recalled the pokemon. Turning to Gabrielle, he asked, "So now what?"

"Maybe the attack is from a region you don't have information on," she said.

"But why would a pokemon here know an attack from another region?"

"Oh, it happens a lot. Trainers release a pokemon they caught in one region into another or something."

"But I caught him in the Safari Zone. And besides, he's not that strong. Who'd catch him somewhere and bring him here?"

"I meant that his parent might have been from somewhere else. That's usually how it is. You catch a normal pokemon like a little pidgey and you learn it knows steel wing or something. Does your pokedex have the Johto information?"

Elliot nodded.

"Hm, maybe it's a new attack. Or…it could be from..." she paused. "Hoenn, that's it. It might be from Hoenn. Does your pokedex have that information?"

"No," Elliot said.

"Mine doesn't either. Let's see if you can get an upgrade at the Center," she said.

-

-

They were walking down a path. It wasn't a strange path – it was ordinary, absurdly neat, with plants growing exactly up to the edges, then stopping as sharply as if the dirt road was paved. The rest of the forest was green, full of vibrant life. There was a body off to the side.

Elliot stopped, staring with a blank, uncomprehending look. Gabrielle's step faltered for a moment, and she took a steadying breath. She bent over the body.

It was a boy, who'd been perhaps twelve. He hadn't been dead that long – there was no sign of rot or marks from scavengers. Gabrielle was grateful for that. His skin was ashen, still damp from sweat.

An inexpertly tied bandage wrapped around his leg. It was white, with no sign on blood on the outside. She unwrapped it and found only a small smudge of red.

"Did someone kill him?" Elliot whispered beside her.

She shook her head. "He must have gotten sick." She pulled back the sliced cloth of the jeans to see the wound, recognizing it. "He got cut on a rock or a piece of wood. It was just a scratch, so he didn't think anything of it. He bandaged it just to keep blood from making a mess." She could see the dirty imprints where the boy's fingers had touched the gauze.

"But how come he's dead?" Elliot asked. It was just a cut.

"He got sick. Probably feverish. He got sick and lay down and died of exposure. There wasn't anyone with him to help."

Gabrielle took the pokeballs off his belt, then rolled the body onto its stomach.

"What are you doing?" Elliot said, shocked.

"I need to find his pokedex," she said, unzippering the bag. "So I can bring it back so they'll know which family to notify." She pulled the red gadget out.

"How can you be so calm?"

Gabrielle bit her lip. "There's nothing I can do for him. At least I can let his parents know what happened to him. They'll take the body back, bury it somewhere." She stood. "Come on, let's go."

Without looking back, she started walking, taking even, measured steps. Elliot didn't move immediately, staring vacantly off. Finally he turned and started to leave as well.

A fluttering sound made him look back. A spearow had landed, perhaps attracted by their voices. Its thick, twisted beak glinted in the sunlight. It bent, tearing off a bit of the face.

Elliot screamed, fingers wrapping around a rock. He hurled it at the bird and it hit with a wet snapping sound.

-

-

The Joy took the news well.

Elliot wasn't paying much attention, but he was aware of what was happening enough to think how odd it was that her cheerful smile didn't even falter. She thanked Gabrielle, took their pokemon, and left to phone an officer.

"You okay?"

Elliot looked up. Gabrielle had walked back over. He didn't answer.

"I'm sorry you saw that," she said. "If – if it makes you feel better, he didn't suffer much."

"It was just a cut," Elliot said, his voice a whisper.

"He thought so too." Gabrielle held out a pokeball. "Here."

"What's that?"

"The spearow."

Elliot recoiled. "I don't want it!"

"I've already got my team, and you need more. The spearow's pretty strong for a wild pokemon, maybe about as good as your growlithe. Besides, you're the one that injured it."

"But it- it-"

"It's been caught. Someone needs to take it."

"Just let it go."

"Can't. We're out of its territory here. You'll have to bring it back to the forest." She dropped the pokeball in his lap.

Elliot stared at it silently. After a minute, he reached out and picked it up.

The pokeball opened. In the light of the Pokemon Center, the spearow no longer looked so evil. It cocked its head at him, like it had earlier, then cheeped, the sound smooth and pretty, not harsh like he'd expected.

Gabrielle returned. "The Joy's agreed to give you the Hoenn information. Let's hurry up before she gets a good look at you." She tugged his arm. Elliot recalled the bird and stood.

The Joy was still cheerful, although her smile was mostly gone. She took his pokedex, inserted it into a machine, and then handed it back, along with their pokeballs.

"That's all?" he asked as Gabrielle pulled him back out. "What was the big deal?"

"Hurry up, it's best if we leave quick." She pushed him out the door.

"Why? I don't understand."

"Joys don't like giving trainers information on other regions. I'm not sure why, but it's best to leave for a few minutes so they don't remember you."

"Oh," said Elliot, who thought that sounded strange.

"Well, now that you have the information, why don't you see if you can find the attack?"

"Okay," said Elliot, accessing the move list. "Um…there's something here called hyper voice. Maybe that." He sent out Discord. "Can you use that attack again?"

The jigglypuff swelled up and started making the racket. Elliot pointed his pokedex, remembering to tell the computer to analyze the attack.

"Uproar," reported the pokedex.

Elliot recalled Discord and looked back to the list. "It's still not on here."

Gabrielle shrugged, looking unconcerned. "They probably don't have complete data on jigglypuff there, that's all. It's weird it knows it, though. There aren't a lot of pokemon trainers coming out of Hoenn."

They entered the park square, where an impromptu pokemon battle had started. Elliot headed into the gathering crowd.

The two trainers were around eleven, just old enough to be a bit worldly and young enough not to know how much further they had to go. They were showing off, their attempts obvious, clumsy like puppies. The crowd, made mainly of those even younger, were rapt.

One of the two trainers called back his fainted bulbasaur. He selected another pokeball.

"I just caught this one in the Safari Zone," he said, voice filled with pride. He was young enough to consider the place exotic, impressive, to consider going a mark of his sophistication. "I haven't gotten the chance to try it out yet."

The crowd perked up, watching with bright, interested eyes. The trainer tossed the pokeball, releasing a nidorina.

This was impressive to the children. They were not far enough along yet for evolved pokemon to have lost their novelty.

Gabrielle stiffened and averted her eyes.

The nidorina didn't move. It took Elliot a moment to realize she was shaking, tremors running through her body every few seconds.

The trainer, oblivious, ordered an attack. The nidorina did not appear to notice. The shudders worsened. Suddenly she jerked, the sudden motion alerting even the trainer that something was wrong.

Before Elliot could look closer, he felt Gabrielle's hand grab his arm. She pulled him away, walking quickly.

"What is it?" he said, going along without struggle. He was looking at her, but she was staring ahead. "What was wrong with the nidorina?"

She didn't answer for a few minutes, and something about the scene prevented Elliot from repeating his question.

"That idiot," she whispered at last, to herself.

"Will it-"

"She won't be okay!" Gabrielle snapped. Her voice was kept low, but the words were sharp. "Nidorina, they can't be used by themselves. She's dead."

Elliot stared at her.

"They can't be used by themselves," she repeated bitterly. "Wild nidorina die if they're separated from their packs. They're paralyzed by fear and they die."

"But…" Elliot didn't know what to say. He wanted to deny it – pokemon weren't killed in battles, everyone knew that. They didn't – they couldn't die. But the ninetales… "Why didn't you do anything?"

"What could I have done?" she yelled at him. "Don't you think I wanted to?"

He cowered. She saw this, turned away. When she spoke again, her voice wasn't angry. "Let's go," she said, not meeting his eyes.


	10. A Cruelty, a Cat, a Truth By Mistake

A Cruelty, a Cat, a Truth By Mistake

* * *

The paper had none of the dangerous feel of a wanted poster. It was laid out, rather, the same as if for some tournament, presented in the same wholesome, cheery style.

The reward money, even, was listed more as a prize for the feat of capture, and less as a payment for the removal of the persian. Nothing alarming. Nothing threatening.

There was reason for this (there is always a reason, even if that reason is temporary insanity). But perhaps the poster, this time, was just slightly too inviting. Or perhaps it would have happened anyway, a convergence of unlikely events that is so common in this world. It was hard to say which could have been prevented, which should have been prevented.

Firstly, let indoctrination take its due blame. Catching the weakest and raising them had never been a popular view, despite the fact that for certain reasons (ones that could not be said) it was, strangely enough, correct. Perhaps this was a sign they needed to increase the saturation. Between the counter-intuitiveness of the advice and the fact it was not prevalent enough, this belief would not even flicker through most trainer's minds. To make it worse, a competing, contradicting bit of knowledge was floating about, and for all it was wrong, it made a great deal of sense. To be a strong trainer you needed to catch strong pokemon. And so indoctrination failed.

The next was simple coincidence, no blame, sadly, possible. Elliot had had a meowth, had fought with it, had won with it, and yet, had traded it. His few experiences with it had given him the impression it was strong – he would have gotten a similar impression with almost any pokemon, but he did not know this. And here, he had the chance to gain a replacement, an even stronger replacement. The fact he had a meowth, the fact he traded the meowth, and the fact he was there now, all of these things were chance, none dangerous in and of itself.

And then, the final, most definite cause, the one and only cause which can be directly known, the only one for which direct blame may be applied (as it is a simple and clear cause) and still more importantly, the only one where the blame may be placed upon a scapegoat: the poster.

But all was not yet lost. Perhaps these events, which brought him so perilously close, would go no further. A few more obstacles remain. He had only decided to try, and there was no certainty he would succeed. The persian was strong, wary. He had only a collection of ordinary, low-level pokemon. He had no experience with this. Yes, things might still go correctly.

And Elliot was not the first trainer to look at the poster. Three times already, an older trainer, some point below or around twenty, had looked at it thoughtfully, then walked off, out of town and into the mountains. They were experienced hunters, and their pokemon were probably the same, ones chosen for the chase and fight. They had one to find the trail, one to follow it when it runs, one to take its attacks and weaken it. Certainly, they are the ones who will find it. Yes, certainly.

-

-

Elliot wandered through the town, looking for the Pokemon Center. Gabrielle had departed earlier, heading north and leaving him with the strange advice not to trust anyone her age. He was at the foot of the mountain range. Viridian was on the other side. It was late, so he'd start out tomorrow. He planned to wander around until he caught the persian, then go on.

 He passed a pair of trainers battling, their pokemon a houndour and a psyduck. The psyduck kept using psychic attacks, and the houndour kept ignoring them and tackling the water type. Elliot wondered why it wasn't using water moves, but didn't stop to watch the battle. After what happened with the ninetales, the sight of a helmeted psyduck made him feel uneasy, and he kept walking.

As he passed the psyduck's trainer, he noticed how angry the boy looked. No one liked to lose, he supposed.

The Pokemon Center wasn't hard to find. Inside was another Joy, as cheery as the one at the last center and the one before that. She smiled at him as she took the pokeballs. For a moment, he entertained the idea that she was the same one, traveling from Center to Center ahead of him. The familiarity was comforting, but eerie as well.

Who were they? he wondered. They were people, they must have been children like everyone else. What if a Joy didn't want to be a nurse? Or was being in charge of a Pokecenter just part of them?

The ding that signaled his pokemon's return shook him out of his thoughts. He retrieved the pokeballs, released them and set out their food before getting something to eat himself. By the time they finished, it was dark out, and Elliot recalled them and went to sleep.

-

-

"Nurse Joy! Nurse Joy!"

Elliot looked up from his breakfast. A young girl, eight or nine, had just run into the Center. She was carrying a psyduck in her arms, one that must have weighed at least half as much as her.

Its eyes were closed, just like the other helmeted psyduck Elliot had seen. Its skin was dull and slightly tight, so that the outline of its rib cage could be seen. It was shivering in her arms, and Elliot could see it was wet with dew.

The Joy looked mildly concerned, her expression so fixed it looked almost manufactured. The chancey rushed in and took the pokemon. The nurse left with them. When she returned, her worried expression had been completely exchanged for one of adultly anger.

"What were you thinking, letting your pokemon battle until it was in that condition?" the Joy said severely. The girl was shivering herself, her dress wet from the dewy long grass and the psyduck. She must have been exhausted from carrying the pokemon. She was clearly upset, probably one of the children who took injured pokemon personally. Her lower lip trembled. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. "The psyduck is very sick. It's in critical condition right now. I don't know if it will make it. What do you-"

"Hey," said another trainer, standing. "Anyone can see the psyduck didn't get that way from battling. Leave her alone."

The Joy turned toward him. "The psy-" she began.

"Come off it," he said rudely. "It's obvious someone abandoned the psyduck and it was out all night."

-

-

Caw sat on Elliot's shoulder as the trainer walked, keeping up a monologue. Elliot responded occasionally when he thought he understood a word, prompting the murkrow to flutter his wings excitedly.

The flying type was experienced with this. He'd been through several trainers, so he understood what Elliot was trying to do. He was, as he was then, gratified by the effort.

The mountains they were traveling through were little different than the forests Elliot had been in from the start of his journey. The path was still immaculate. The grass was still rich. Despite the fact the mountain should, in theory, be made mainly of rock, there were no stray stones anywhere to be seen, and despite the slope, there was no sign of erosion on the open dirt of the road.

-

-

It was purely by accident he found the persian. If he hadn't stopped to snack but had kept going just a few minutes longer, she would doubtlessly have heard him. Or if he had stopped, but just a few minutes earlier, she would have gone by, her path never intersecting his.

As it was, she appeared nearly on top of him.

If the forest hadn't been so strange, if the few patches of underbrush hadn't been so thick, if she hadn't burst through so that she was only a few feet away, she might have been better able to take stock of the situation. Perhaps she wouldn't have hesitated, shrunk back and hissed. If she'd kept running, he'd never have been able to follow her, and he himself wasn't a danger.

But she wasn't too familiar with humans, so perhaps she would have done that anyway. She'd seen them before, but wasn't clear on their power, their abilities, their own, very peculiar manner of fighting. She didn't know that they were not dangerous themselves, and that they could carry things more dangerous than she could imagine. And she did not know that caution lost battles recklessness would have won.

She paused, and that was enough. "Howler!" he yelled, tossing the Greatball. She'd stayed long enough for him to release a pokemon.

Normally, it wouldn't have mattered that he had this opportunity. Had she been in good condition, she could have easily taken it out, or even just ran and escaped. But the purpose of the reward posters was not that a single trainer would be able to catch her, it was so that multiple bounty hunters would swarm the area, whose combined abilities easily wore down and overwhelmed their quarry, getting rid of it quickly.

The persian was young but skilled. Thus far, she had managed to evade and fight off the hunters. The obvious traps, huge boxes with bait inside and an obvious trapdoor or skullcrushing weight, those she ignored. But there were other, hidden kinds of traps, and these she could not know of without experience. She'd stepped into a steel-jaw trap. It had been inexpertly set and of low quality make, had failed to close properly, had only bitten down to the bone, not into. The persian had torn her leg free eventually, before the hunters found her, but her paw was a bloody, swollen mess now, bone showing through some of the gouges. It was still intact, but left alone, the infection would grow until it rotted.

She was hungry. With one forepaw ruined and the other needed to stand, she could not attack with her claws. She was sick as well, already developing a fever. She didn't want to fight even something as weak as the growlithe.

She growled threateningly, hoping to scare it off, but it did not retreat, did not even hesitate, instead attacking her with flames. She struggled to avoid these, clumsy and having trouble moving on three legs. Her side was burned. Growing frantic, she jumped at him, sinking her teeth deep into his back and tasting the blood that flooded her jaws. Before she could do more, the meat softened and turned into insubstantial air. She snarled, confused.

"Caw!" Elliot yelled, tossing another pokeball. "Beat your wings and make a gale!"

The murkrow complied, creating a cyclone-shaped gust attack. The winds pulled the persian from the ground and sent her flying into a tree. She slid back down, nearly unconscious and unable to move. Quickly, Elliot threw a pokeball. Even after everything, the Ultraball still tossed from side to side for almost a minute before the button finally changed from red to grey.

-

-

The persian's first feeling was confusion. She was standing on a cold, flat surface, surrounded by bright lights, loud background noise, and unfamiliar, threatening smells.

She had her right leg lifted automatically, and it took a moment before she realized the pain was gone.

No, not gone. Her paw still ached slightly, and felt stiff as she set it down with the other three. Her side felt fine, as if she hadn't been injured at all.

She was hungry, though, just as hungry as she had been in the woods.

She crouched, eyes darting around to take in her surroundings. The boy she'd nearly run into earlier was there, with another human she hadn't seen before. She snarled, preparing to leap, but before she could do anything, she felt the strange feeling of her body breaking apart.

The girl behind the counter at the bounty office looked surprised. "You did catch it," she said.

Elliot nodded, looking a bit unsettled from the snarl. "I wanted to catch a persian."

Alarm bells went off almost audibly inside the girl's head. She was eighteen, maybe nineteen, new at the job. "You aren't planning to keep it?"

Elliot stared at her, confused. "Um…why not?"

"Old pokemon like this are feral. They're just vicious. They won't obey. Most people turn them in to us."

"Oh," said Elliot, looking down at the Ultraball in his hands. He might have handed it to her if she hadn't continued.

"They can't be used. We put them down immediately."

Honesty is not the best policy. Elliot pulled back. "Kill it?"

The girl realized her mistake, but couldn't think how to remedy it, if there even was a way.

"I'm going to keep it," Elliot said.

"You won't be able to use it," the girl said. "It's too old. It won't obey commands. It's vicious."

"I understand," Elliot said. Even if he couldn't use it, he couldn't just kill it.

-

-

"There's a problem."

"With the rogue?"

"In a manner."

"You couldn't even handle that? Who do you need to call in to clean it up?"

"It's not that, it's who caught it."

"What?"

* * *

Well, now Elliot's got six pokemon. Technically, anyway.

Next chapter:

A wall may be seen, but the purpose remains enigmatic. The world can be divided up easily into us and them, speaking and dumb, prey and predator. Everyone seeks to change what they don't know into what they're already familiar with.

And how could a persian be there, really?


	11. Arguments, Adoptions, Wall

We'll be taking a break from eerie weirdness this chapter to focus on the pokemon, especially the new persian. That doesn't mean there still aren't oddities and worrying things in this chapter, but they're not as noticeable and not what we'll focus on.

Don't worry, next chapter should be back to normal. Whatever that is.

* * *

The persian reappeared on grass, in what smelled closer to the forest she knew.

When she reappeared, the boy was in front of her, and because he had been there the other two times as well, she came to the conclusion he was to blame. She would have jumped at him, except she had just been about to do that a second ago and it hadn't worked. She shrank down defensively, feeling the thick grass under her paws. She still wasn't used to that, and it only made her feel worse, like she was on unstable ground. She waited for him to do something.

She was hungry, starving. She licked her jaws, staring at the boy. He smelled like he'd taste poorly, a smell she would have called chemical if she'd known the word, but he was still meat, and she was hungry enough to eat carrion.

He seemed to turn his back, but she didn't move. Who could tell if those were really his eyes? He was covered in bright patches, he could be looking out from anywhere. She heard a sound something like pebbles falling, and then he turned back and she could see he was holding a shiny thing with brown stones. He set it on the ground and backed up. It smelled somewhat like a mixture of his smell and the guts of prey, but the scent was more familiar than his. She stepped forward and gulped it down. The texture was strange, hard and rough, scraping her throat, yet somehow it tasted like food and not rock. She finished it and then stared back at the boy.

"Empty? Are you still hungry?"

She growled softly instead of answering. He walked forward again, and she backed up as he dropped more pebbles. She ate those as well and her hunger receded.

When she did nothing more, Elliot recalled her and set off.

-

-

Elliot had missed Viridian. He'd crossed too far up, and wound up somewhere between Pewter and his intended destination.

By the time he'd gotten through the mountains it was around five. He was slightly tired from hiking up and down the hills, and knew it'd take him a while to set up camp and eat. He decided to stop.

He gathered wood, cleared an open space, and had Howler start the fire. Then he began releasing his pokemon.

The persian growled, low and rumbling. As humans tended to do, Elliot interpreted this as aggression, a forerunner to an attack. He held her pokeball ready, prepared to recall her if she did anything. He didn't understand she was frightened.

When she had fought the growlithe before, she had been slightly delirious, and focused on simply scaring it off. She hadn't had the opportunity to examine it the way she normally would. Now that she did, the alienness was striking.

He was obscenely proportioned, blubbery and round, fatter than a newborn. His fur was wrong somehow, so wrong she couldn't even tell exactly what it was, too fluffy maybe, and yet not properly thick. He stared back, his eyes filled with all the intelligence found in the braindead.

It was just too strange. If he was closer to what she knew, she might have been able to look at him the way she had the pokemon of the area, dimwitted, slightly overfed, not dangerous, easy prey. But he magnified the traits to such a degree she couldn't even see him as an abnormal growlithe, the way she had the pidgey and other small creatures. She was scared.

((What's wrong?)) asked a voice. She jumped backward, staring at the new speaker. She'd been so surprised by the growlithe she hadn't noticed that a murkrow was there as well. Her eyes flicked back between the two, trying to watch both, ready to attack the moment they moved toward her.

When they didn't, she calmed slightly. She focused on the speaker, as the growlithe wasn't doing anything. ((He's- he's-)) she stammered, then stopped, trying to figure out how to say it. It was something so basic she didn't even know what words she could use. ((What is he?))

The murkrow looked at her oddly. ((A growlithe.))

((I know that!)) she snapped, fear and uncertainty making her temper flare.

((Then I don't know what you mean,)) said the bird. He wasn't worried by the fact she was clearly volatile. He was perched on a branch, out of her reach, and if she tried to climb he'd fly off.

((He doesn't think!)) she screeched, taking refuge in anger. Being so close to the demented growlithe was making her skin crawl with revulsion. She might have lunged at the bird but that would take her closer to the – the thing.

The growlithe had failed to pick up any of the subtle clues that she be should left alone – her puffed tail and flattened ears, the horrified look in her eyes as she stared at him, her snarls. He wagged his tail – she jerked at the motion – and barked happily. The meaningless babble was too much. She crept backward, tail tucked tightly against her side.

((Are you really scared of him?)) asked the murkrow. ((He's harmless. Can't you tell how much weaker he is?))

She took her eyes off the growlithe again to stare at the bird, now beginning to fear him as well. ((Can't you see?)) she said, her voice growing frantic. She shuddered. ((He can't speak! Why can't he speak?))

((Is _that_ all you're upset about?)) said the murkrow, sounding disdainful. ((It's just a child. Can't you tell that either?))

The persian's eyes flicked back to the growlithe, who had grown bored and started to wander away. It was bigger than any growlithe she'd seen before. And that fat wasn't puppy fat either. Puffed like a rotting corpse. ((None of my sisters were born that bloated,)) she told the bird. ((Nor that big.))

((Your sisters?)) he repeated, sounding curious. ((What do you mean?))

((My…sisters,)) the persian said, unsure of how to make it clearer. ((The children of my mother.))

((You were kept with them?)) The disdainful tone returned. ((Couldn't your owner sell you?))

((I had no owner,)) she growled, taking the first half of it as an insult rather than the second.

((Don't be ridiculous,)) the murkrow said. ((Everyone knows wild meowth don't keep their young that long.))

((Stupid Bird,)) she said, turning away from it. With the growlithe gone she was calmer.

The boy was watching her. She noticed this at last, with the growlithe no longer so pressing. She turned to him and noticed there were two more. A small black dog and a round puffy thing. She'd seen puffballs before but never heard their names, they were too easy to kill for that. She'd never seen the other pokemon.

The puffball was nothing she cared about, just the same as the other strange-smelling, bland-tasting prey she'd found. The little dog, though, had bright, inquisitive eyes, reminding the persian of her second sisters. The puppy barked at her, fluffy tail wagging, and she took this very differently than she had when the growlithe tried it. She walked toward the dog, leaning forward carefully, so they were almost nose to nose. She held her breath, not wanting to scare her. The dog sniffed, then tried to lick her face clumsily.

She purred gently, licking at the dog's messy fur. She reminded the persian so much of the kittens. She hadn't seen anything like them since she left.

The murkrow cawed off in the background mockingly. ((Scared of a perfectly normal growlithe but you like that thing?)) he said.

((Thing?)) she demanded testily.

((Didn't your last trainer teach you anything?)) said the bird. Before the persian could say she hadn't had any trainer, Caw continued. ((Well, mine did. That pokemon's not from the area. Doesn't even exist in the books, I know.)) He sounded proud, for some obscure reason. ((Probably something the humans made. Something that'll kill you when you turn your back or curse you for a thousand years.))

She growled at the bird. ((I've eaten things like you,)) she hissed.

((I don't care if your trainer had you beat murkrow before. He won't tell us to fight. Don't you know anything? That's not how it works.))

((Stupid Bird,)) she said again, and resumed grooming the small dog.

Elliot, quite wrongly, took the returning silence to mean they'd worked things out and were all friends now.

Sono, the spearow, trilled happily from another tree branch, enjoying the air. She had missed notice by the persian.

Elliot began to set out food. The two birds came over first, pecking at the pellets, then Howler. The jigglypuff came next. Din smelled the food and trotted over, and the persian followed slowly behind. She realized that her stomach was empty again, although she did not feel hungry.

"You need a name," Elliot said, watching the persian walk slowly and smoothly over the grass. "How about Prowler?"

Prowler, who did not care what he called her, made no response.

"Okay then. Prowler."

With that decided, Elliot left to get water for his own meal, Howler trotting devotedly at his heels.

He returned to see Prowler engaged almost idly in a staring contest with Caw, who seemed to be taking it quite seriously.

"Hi guys," he said. "Everything okay?"

The persian stared at him. It was starting to get slightly unnerving. She hadn't displayed any recognition or even acknowledged his existence since she'd snarled earlier. It was like he was just part of the landscape.

Caw flapped his wings and flew over, landing near him.

"So what were you talking about earlier?" Elliot asked, pouring water into a pot over the fire. "I couldn't really make it out."

Caw was used to this. He focused on keeping his voice sharp and clear. ((The persian wanted to know what the growlithe was. She claimed several impossible and outrageous things. That was all.))

"What things?"

Caw's feather's ruffled irritably. He dragged his beak through twice, abrupt preening, before answering. ((The persian claimed she had known her sisters. This is not true. Meowth leave their mothers within a few weeks. Several young may occasionally be present at the same time, if a new egg hatches before an older child departs, but they would not remember this. This was proven by Professor Palm.))

"Oh, um, okay. Where'd you learn that?"

((Some of my trainers have been interested in those things.))

((Stupid Bird,)) Prowler muttered.

-

-

"Okay, Prowler," Elliot said, voice loud.

He didn't know what he was doing. He was acting out the part he'd seen happen, when the trainer tested his new, powerful pokemon's skills. He felt he should, because it seemed like it was what you did.

The persian could understand him. He had fed her, and for that, she would wait.

"I want you to use slash on those trees."

She would wait. Not necessarily obey. She watched him calmly. Her demeanor remained unchanging. She did not even acknowledge the order.

"Come on, Prowler," Elliot said. The pokemon was testing him, he was sure, but he felt the same frustration talked about in every trainer's tale he'd ever heard. Now he understood how maddening it was to be given such a seemingly arbitrary test. What did the pokemon want him to do?

She spoke to him, questioned him. She asked who he was, why he was telling her to do this. She did not know what he wanted with her. She knew a little of trainers, had heard her own kind's tales about them. But their motivation in pokemon tales was that of the fae in human's tales, namely, what motivation?

"Are you trying to tell me something?" he asked, and she snapped her jaws in irritation. He was a child, she decided, stupid like her second sisters.

"Persian," she said. ((Yes.))

"Does that mean yes?" he asked, and she was gratified to see his face reddened afterward, as if he realized what a poor job he was doing. "Um…shake your head for no, and nod for yes."

She stared at him with quiet bafflement. Move her head for both yes and no? She wondered for a moment why she was warned so much about humans, then realized a moment later that, stupid or not, they had nearly killed her.

"What's wrong?"

The persian flopped down on the ground, stretching out uneasily on the over-soft ground. She yawned, closed her eyes, and tried to nap.

"Prowler!" he wailed.

One eye opened. So inept. So weak. Yet…endearing somehow. Helpless. She stood back up, walked toward him. He tried not to back away.

Not stupid, like the horrible growlithe. He was inexperienced, weak. But he had fed her, hadn't he? Helped her, clumsily, but he had helped. She knew her leg wound had been bad, knew her sisters had died from less.

She had tolerated her second sisters' games. This was no different. She walked over to a tree, scratched at it easily. He smiled happily, thinking he had passed the test and gotten her to obey him. He recalled her and headed onward.

-

-

Viridian had never been large. It was a city only because of the presence of a gym, which, for no discernable reason, had chosen to form there, and was no different in size or appearance from many of the larger towns. It was a quiet place.

Gabrielle had told him not to go to the gym there, but when he investigated, he saw it was closed anyway. He thought that was strange.

As he left the building, he met another trainer, the same age as him, who challenged him to a battle.

"But a double battle," his opponent said. "With two of your pokemon fighting at once."

He agreed. That was what you did when someone challenged you.

"-ler!" the persian heard. She found herself on flat ground, rough like broken stones. There were two pokemon in front of her, a gloom and a weepinbell.

And the growlithe was next to her. She yowled, jumping to the side to avoid contact.

The other trainer laughed. "I heard growlithe and persian don't get along well," he said. "Guess that's true."

"Y-yeah," Elliot said, flushing slightly. Having his pokemon act like that wasn't as bad as actual disobedience, but it still made him look like a bad trainer.

The persian didn't care about that. Her pelt was crawling with disgust.

"Howler, use flame wheel on the weepinbell! Prowler, slash the gloom!"

"Solar beam! Acid!"

The gloom settled onto the ground, sunlight gathering. Prowler ignored this, moving toward it from the side so she remained a good distance from the growlithe. She scratched at it lightly, raising long gashes in its strange flesh. It slumped down into greater inactivity and she ignored it.

The growlithe had won as well. He approached her, and the only thing that made her sink back rather than attack was her revulsion at the idea of touching him. She growled, and he stopped.

The two were recalled again.

-

-

On Elliot's map, Viridian was on the very edge of the left side, with nothing beyond it. He'd heard Johto was over there. Figuring it wouldn't hurt if he took a few extra days before getting to Cinnabar, he'd gone west, only to meet a Jenny at the edge of the city.

She'd told him no one was allowed past, and he didn't argue.

He'd been on his way by early afternoon.

He wasn't sure why, but the scene in the city stayed with him. Not what the Jenny had said, exactly.

But the realization that the entire western half of the city was walled.

* * *

I don't think this chapter was that good, sorry…

Next chapter: Advice is good, isn't it? A shame people tend not to listen.


	12. Advice

Hi again.

So, okay, I sort of lied without meaning to, we're still not completely back to normal. A couple new things to chew on while I set the plot up to finally explain part of an earlier oddity.

* * *

Advice

-

Well beyond the city, Elliot decided to try going west again, his curiosity piqued. The Jenny had warned him that it wasn't safe, but Elliot didn't take that too seriously. Why would one place be more dangerous than another? Besides, Johto should be on the other side. It wasn't like he was going into unknown, untraveled territory.

Elliot found the way impassible. It wasn't blocked exactly the way it had been at Viridian, but there were thick hedges cropping up on his path, and, after failing to find a way around them, Elliot gave up and continued south.

It grew late, and Elliot stopped and set up his camp. He released his pokemon to feed them. Caw beat his wings to catch his balance, creating a slight breeze that ruffled the fur of the other pokemon and sent Discord tumbling.

"Jiggly puff!" he cried, his tiny arms grabbing the ground as he rolled to stop himself.

Prowler's ears perked. ((So that's your name.))

((Yeah,)) said Discord. ((Didn't you ever see one before?

((I have, but you are not common where I was. And we did not usually hunt you.)) Hours spent stalking, careful of every breath, knowing any sound, any warning, would not only let him escape but mean her own death. He had to be killed perfectly, the skin unpunctured. ((I never heard one speak before it died.))

((I always thought there were a lot of us,)) Discord said. ((Where I was there were.))

((Perhaps because there are so few strong pokemon here, it is easier for things like you.))

((Why eat them?)) Caw asked scornfully. ((You're just telling another story. No large pokemon eats jigglypuff. They're mostly air.))

Held underwater as air slid out of dead lungs. ((There's fat in them,)) Prowler said. ((And soft meat.))

((Nothing would go through so much trouble for a delicacy eaten in one bite.))

((They aren't one,)) Prowler said.

((Then you don't eat them, then you don't hunt them, and you're just making it all up.))

Hot and puffed, a claw slicing through one side. Blood and grease and juice dripping onto a flat rock. ((Whoever said I was the one who ate it?))

Elliot had missed the conversation, but he did notice the glare Caw was giving and Prowler's calm, almost automatic return stare.

"Anything wrong, guys?" he asked.

Prowler didn't respond. Caw turned to Elliot. ((The persian is a liar,)) he said.

"Oh?"

((You shouldn't believe what she says. None of it's true.))

((What would you know, Bird,)) Prowler said, voice lazy.

-

-

Elliot couldn't have been walking for more than an hour before he came upon a trainer. At his approach, she jumped up.

"Hey," she said. "You want to fight?" Next to her, a tauros snorted intimidating.

"Okay," Elliot replied automatically, even though she looked much older than him and he should have remembered Michael's battles, and even though Gabrielle had warned him about trainers that age. The experience of battling an adult gym leader and winning, and of catching a special pokemon, had pulled him firmly back into his original mindset. He pulled off a pokeball at random. It was Sono's. Elliot tossed it.

Sono fluttered her short wings once, then landed on the dirt road. She cheeped questioningly.

"Take down!" the girl yelled.

"Fly up and dive!"

The two collided headfirst. The bull tossed his head easily, unfazed, but Sono fell down unconscious.

"Return, Sono," Elliot said, then handed money over to the girl. "How'd your tauros get to be so strong?"

"That's simple," she said. "I train with him every day. I even have him attack me to build our bond. That makes him stronger than an ordinary pokemon."

"Oh," Elliot said. He remembered he'd seen a show about a pokemon master where the boy had done that. It made sense.

And just like being able to talk to pokemon, he wanted to be like that.

-

-

"Prowler," Elliot said, "I want you to use slash on me."

In stories, the responses of pokemon varied. Some were shocked, some impressed. Others, out of their deep love for the trainer, at first refused.

However, they never stared impassively at their trainer as if he was a tree or rock. Prowler's gaze was unnerving. Elliot's self-confidence wavered a moment before recovering.

"Prowler," he whined. "Why won't you do what I say?"

Prowler yawned.

"Why won't you? I'm a good trainer. Tell me what's wrong."

Prowler looked at him like he was an idiot, then slashed the turf.

Elliot stared at the gash. "Oh," he said after a moment.

-

-

Hours later, Elliot stopped for lunch. After feeding his pokemon, he decided let them stay out for a while. Caw obediently returned to his pokeball, but the reawakened Sono wanted to stay out. She perched on Elliot's shoulder as he walked, singing.

After walking for some time, Din began to whine softly, nuzzling Prowler. She stopped abruptly.

((Din is hungry,)) she announced.

"We'll eat more soon," Elliot said, feeling slightly hurt that she wouldn't talk to him earlier but would for Din.

((Din is hungry,)) Prowler repeated clearly. ((Din needs to eat food.))

Elliot sighed in resignation and started to get out the pokemon food.

((That is not good food,)) Prowler said, keeping her speech simple enough for him to understand.

"What's wrong with it?"

((That is food for older ones who do not do much. Din is young and Din is active. It is bad food for her.))

"I don't have anything else."

((I will get Din food. You continue. I will catch up with you before it is dark.)) Without waiting for his agreement, she loped off, Din following.

"Wait! How are you going to find me?"

Prowler glanced over her shoulder. ((Do not worry. You are easy to find.))

* * *

Yeah, short chapter. Sorry, I'll have another one done soon.

Next chapter: Insults are traded, Prowler's origins are called into question, and you won't even notice that because of the bombshell that'll be dropped before the end.


	13. Fire and Children

Eatacheesemonkey, you'd got me curious too now. What do you think the name means, and how do you think Caw's trainer tricked Elliot? I'm glad you like Elliot, I'm always wondering if I've got him wrong. And I'd prefer the pancake over the trout.

Charles RocketBoy: Hello again! The idea about the pokemon food comes from something I've heard about feeding sled dogs and my own experience with petfood. And the pokemon training advice is more disturbing than just an innocent urban legend – the girl said she actually did this. Yet it would seem that anyone trying it should be dead. And then she told Elliot to do that. So…

Hi Keleri! Glad you like the story. I do write this on Word. There are some words the spellchecker and I disagree about, especially base words that I've made adjectives (adultly), but besides that, it says there aren't mistakes. If there are others, could you point them out?

And now, the chapter. I think I did a much better job with transitions this time, so see what you think!

* * *

Fire and Children

-

Prowler returned much later, carrying a sleepy Din in her mouth.

((Where were you?)) said Caw, who'd missed the scene earlier by being in his pokeball. ((Why were you off alone? You're not supposed to do that and you know it. Pokemon stay with their trainer.))

((Be quiet, Bird,)) Prowler grumbled idly. She stretched out by the fire, stomach facing the flames. Din, belly round, curled up next to her.

Caw wasn't content to let sleeping cats lie. ((Not scared of fire, wild persian?))

((Why would I be?)) Prowler murmured sleepily. ((We had fire.))

((Only humans do, and everyone knows that. Stop lying about being wild.))

((We had fire,)) she repeated, not particularly vehemently. ((In the winter my mother made a fire.))

((Liar.))

Discord was interested. He'd been staring at the flames, entranced. ((How?)) he asked. ((Can you breathe fire like Howler?))

((No. My mother hit the rocks with her claws. It broke them, but it made little bits of fire come from the walls, and from that came a large fire.))

((Stupid stories. That doesn't make any sense. You're just making things up.)) Caw paused, but seemed unable to let any flaw in her story go. ((And no persian would break their claws on purpose.))

((No Bird would so much as move a feather for their kind. What would you know about what we would do?))

((Liar,)) Caw said.

((You believe only humans can do anything in this world. Stupid Bird.))

((You're jealous of them,)) Caw said. ((That's why you make up these stories.))

Prowler yawned, showing off her teeth. She closed her eyes again.

Elliot returned to the camp carrying wood. "Oh, you're back," he said. "What were you doing?"

Prowler looked up at him. Slowly she got to her feet. ((Din was hungry. I told you this.))

"But where'd you get food?" Elliot asked, baffled.

Prowler walked up to him and rubbed her cheek against his side affectionately. She purred, finding his inexperience funny. ((I found food. There is food everywhere here and it is easy to get.))

"Okay," Elliot said, the uncertainty in his voice making it clear he didn't understand. "How come you aren't growling at me anymore?"

((Then I thought you might be dangerous. Now I know you are not. You are a kitten.))

"I'm not a kitten!" Elliot said.

((Yes you are. You are smaller than others and weak and you do not know how to do things.)) She licked his hand. ((How would you eat on your own?))

Elliot started to say he was on his own and that he could buy his own food, but reflected that was probably not what she meant and was silent. He fed the new sticks into the fire instead, and then began to boil water for his supper.

It grew darker. The fire died down to hot, smoldering embers. Din woke up and began to walk around, enjoying the rare night. Prowler remained near the fire pit, her eyes closed.

Elliot enrolled his sleeping bag and climbed in. He closed his eyes and then felt a second body press up against him. Prowler lay down by him, purring, and then went to sleep. Somewhat surprised, Elliot did the same.

In the morning, Elliot found her gone. He blew on the remaining embers, which had been improperly banked and were nearly dead, then gave up trying to restart the flames and ate fruit he'd bought at the previous town instead.

Prowler returned as he was packing up, carrying Din like before. She set the puppy down.

"Where were you?" he asked. Din barked cheerily in response and Prowler looked at him calmly, apparently not noticing the question. "We're going now, so you'll have to return."

((I return. Din has eaten. She must not for a time.))

"What? What does that matter?"

((Din has eaten. Until finished, she must not return. Put in bag or leave me out and I carry.))

"Fine," Elliot said, picking up Din and putting her into an open pouch at the top of his pack. "Return, Prowler."

Elliot traveled southward uneventfully for a time. Near the edge of the town, right before the grass gave way to cement, he met a trainer.

The boy was about his age, and Elliot saw a white pokeball on his belt. "Hey," he said. "You want to fight?"

"Sure," Elliot said.

"How about a double battle? Four pokemon each."

"Um, okay," Elliot said, thinking it was odd how several people had wanted double battles recently. "Is there any reason why?"

The boy answered casually, obviously not the kind of person who wondered about things. "I want to try it out. I just heard about it myself when I went to a Hoenn building." He threw two pokeballs, releasing a kadabra and a machop.

Din wiggled around as she heard them, pulling out of the pocket and plopping to the ground.

"Okay, Din. And…" he pulled off Sono's pokeball, remembering that he'd heard fighting pokemon were bad against flying types. "Go, Sono!"

Sono chirped enthusiastically and the battle began.

The spearow managed only a single gust attack before being taken out by confusion. Elliot recalled her, realizing he should probably remember to heal pokemon that were knocked out in battle before using them again. He chose a pokeball and tossed it without looking. Any of his four pokemon would be an okay choice.

Prowler had been recalled last, putting her first. Now she appeared, looking around. She quickly took in the necessary details – two large pokemon, an unknown human, her human, and Din.

The other boy began to order his pokemon to attack. Prowler ignored this. Neither pokemon was particularly strong and from her limited experience with human-owned pokemon, she knew that ones that stood still didn't hit hard. She walked up to Din, picked her up, and then walked back to Elliot, depositing the puppy by his feet.

((Din should not fight,)) she scolded, and then walked forward again to fight.

Ignoring the odd look his opponent was giving him, Elliot recalled Din and sent out Caw. The battle restarted, his opponent ordering the kadabra to attack Caw with psybeam.

-

-

Prowler purred reassuringly, rubbing her cheek against his side. ((Don't pay attention to what he said,)) she told Elliot. ((He was just mad he lost. There's nothing wrong with type matching.))

"But it makes you look weak," Elliot said despondently. "Like you couldn't have won if you didn't."

((All you do is choose which is sent out. You can make a good decision or a bad one. You made a good one and he was mad because you did better than him.))

The faint sound of an infant crying angrily drifted through the air for a moment, then stopped.

"I guess…" Elliot said.

Prowler's ears were pricked. She stood still. Elliot stared at her. Seconds ticked by. Without a word, she suddenly ran across the street, nearly getting hit by a car, then jumped a white picket fence on the other side of the road. He heard wood grind, then crack.

"I'm sorry!" Elliot yelled at the driver, scrambling across the street to follow her. The man shouted something and continued. The road was mostly empty, with cars only passing by every few minutes. It was just bad luck Prowler had tried to cross then.

Elliot climbed over the locked fence door to see Prowler throwing herself against the door. It was splintering under the force.

"What are you doing!" Elliot yelled. "You can't do that!"

She didn't answer. The wood split, sagged. She continued to batter herself against it.

"Stop it, Prowler!" Elliot said, running toward her. "Stop it!" If he'd been an older trainer, had been used to disobeying pokemon, he'd have remembered he could recall her. He didn't. And he was so used to her being out, to her doing what she wanted. "Prowler please stop it!" He tried to grab her, but he couldn't get a hold on her.

The wood gave. Prowler almost slithered through the hole she'd made, gone in a second. Elliot pushed at the door, and the cracked bit broke off further at his touch. He climbed through.

Inside, he found Prowler. She was standing on a dead Jenny. Her mouth was crimson, as was the body's throat.

Next to them was a white crib, now lightly splattered with red.

"How could you do this," Elliot said. He didn't know if he was shouting or not.

((The child is dead,)) she told him, licking her paws distastefully. Humans tasted foul.

There was a young girl in the crib. Her blue eyes stared up blankly, her face framed by light blond hair.

"That's not her fault!"

((I heard noise and I heard noise stop and when I came in she was covering the child's face with that.)) Prowler pointed with a pinkish paw.

The pillow was still in the Jenny's hand. Elliot recalled Prowler and walked out of the house. His legs felt strange, light and insubstantial, as if he were dreaming. He kept going down the street, trying not to run.

What was he supposed to do? He had to go to the Jenny…but she was in there and who were you supposed to confess murder to when you'd killed the police officer?

He wound up at the Pokemon Center. He handed his pokeballs over automatically and sat, feeling strangely numb.

Elliot ate, the food bland and unmemorable. The other trainers chattered around him, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. He stayed at the Center for the night.

When he woke, he wondered what would happen. They must have found the body by now. Were they looking for a killer yet? It'd be obvious that a pokemon had done it. Maybe they could even tell it was a persian.

Everyone else seemed calm, subdued the exact amount expected for children who'd just woke. They must not have heard yet, Elliot thought.

He ate breakfast, finding it as tasteless as before.

There was a television off in one corner. It was on, with a group of trainers, mainly older ones, gathered around. Almost unwillingly, Elliot listened. It was reporting mundane things: the scarcity of a particular kind of pokemon in the area, crop problems in the eastern area, recent tournaments, a girl named Lahela had died last-

Elliot jerked out of his thoughts. Dead.

The reporter continued tranquilly, the words spilling around Elliot without effect as he stared at the image of a smiling infant. Died of unknown causes…loss for the community…mother was taking a two day leave…

Unknown causes. And what about the Jenny? She was dead, she couldn't be on leave, he'd seen her blood on the floor. On Prowler.

"That…that's impossible," he whispered to himself, lurching to his feet.

He walked out. Had he just dreamed it? But the girl…was he insane?

There weren't many people on the streets, and an early morning mist surrounded everything, giving the world a hazy quality. Everything looked clean and wholesome.

He saw her standing on the corner of the street. The Jenny.

He didn't look at her, couldn't look at her, but she didn't seem to notice him or care.

He was out of the town before he realized he was shaking. He pulled one pokeball off his belt clumsily, his fingers feeling as though they couldn't bend. He opened it.

"Prowler," Elliot said. She looked at him. "What happened yesterday?"

((Yesterday…hm, you walked around and got there. I don't know. You let me out once and fed me.))

He was insane.

Prowler looked around. ((Hm,)) she said again. ((It looks like morning. Is it the next day?))

Elliot wasn't listening. "You didn't kill anyone?"

((Yes, just a few minutes ago.)) She looked at him oddly. ((You were there and yelling.)) She began to lick her paws, now clean. ((Why do you ask?))


	14. Everything's Normal

Eatacheesemonkey, thanks for finding the mistakes. I can't believe missed them…exams must have fried my brain. I've fixed it now. Hopefully there won't be more in this chapter.

The Mad Tortoise – Actually, I still see this as being a realistic pokemon journey. I think that if pokemon was real, then there'd need to be explanations for why things are the way they are instead of just having it accepted, and things that happen would have real results. No being burnt to a crisp and then being healed in the next shot here. But the story certainly is more of a conspiracy-ish thing than just an adventure romp.

See how soon you can pick up what's going to be the surprise in this chapter, everyone!

* * *

Everything's Normal

-

At the next town, there was still no mention of a Jenny's death. Elliot didn't understand, but he tried to stop thinking about it. What Prowler had done…and yet, what the Jenny must have been doing…

He almost wished Prowler had just killed someone for no reason. Then at least he'd know what to do, how to feel. He'd be sad, but at least he'd know he was doing the right thing.

But he didn't know what to do now, so he just tried to keep going, keep doing the same thing. He wished he could ask someone, but he was too scared to talk to a Jenny about this. He couldn't, not after seeing the dead one alive again. It was just too much for him.

Everyone in the town seemed normal, going about their lives without any sense of worry. He imagined they could tell he was different, tell that he knew, tell that he was hiding a pokemon that had killed someone. He tried not to look at people, telling himself he was just imagining everything.

Instead of staying at the Pokemon Center for the night as he usually would, he kept going, traveling further down toward the ocean.

It was darker than usual when he stopped to start a fire and feed his pokemon.

Elliot began setting out full bowls. Din started toward them but was stopped by a soft growl from Prowler.

"Hey," Elliot said. "Don't threaten her. There's enough here for everyone."

((It was no threat,)) Prowler said.

"She's got to eat."

((I will feed her. There is no point in eating if you will recall us anyway.))

"What do you mean?"

((I do not know.)) Prowler thought for a moment. ((When we eat hunger stops but that is all. No fat. So there is no point in Din eating now because she is not hungry. And the food you offer is empty too. If you will leave us out I will get Din food when she becomes hungry.))

((Liar,)) cawed the murkrow derisively. ((Storyteller.))

((Stupid Bird, human Bird,)) Prowler taunted in return. ((Abandoning Bird, betraying Bird, disloyal Bird.)) And then she laughed. ((Storyless Bird.))

Caw looked livid. He started to speak.

"Stop it you guys," Elliot pleaded before anything else could happen. Obediently, Caw stopped.

There was a slightly uneasy quiet, broken by Sono returning to her song. Everyone went back to what they were doing.

-

-

Prowler returned before Elliot woke up that morning, coming from the north where she'd been all night. The other pokemon were already awake. Caw looked as if he wanted to say something, but, perhaps remembering the last night, didn't.

((Birdy!)) Din said.

Prowler purred. ((Yes, Din, bird. Want bird?))

((Want bird!)) Din repeated, running in an excited circle.

((Caw, come down here.))

The murkrow looked at her distastefully. ((No.))

((Din wants to say hello. Don't be mean to her.))

Suspiciously, Caw landed.

((Birdy!)) Din jumped at him, playfully biting into his feathers. Caw squawked, beating his wings. Din managed to lick his face twice before the murkrow managed to get away. He landed on a branch a good distance away and began preening his ruffled feathers.

Din was tumbled onto her back. ((Birdy?)) she asked Prowler, staring at the persian upsidedown.

((Is that all she says?)) asked Sono from the safety of a different tree branch.

Prowler nuzzled Din. ((Who are you, Din?))

((Din!)) Her tail wagged furiously.

((Who am I?))

((Din sister!))

Prowler looked accomplished. ((See? She can say plenty.))

((She's just repeating you. She doesn't have any idea what it means.))

((Where's the bird, Din?))

((Birdy!)) Din shrieked excitedly, running to the tree and circling the tree while barking. ((Birdy birdy!)) Sono looked disturbed. She shifted nervously, as if thinking about taking flight.

((What are you trying to do, train her to kill us?))

((Good Din. Eat bird?))

Sono jumped, fluttering her short wings. ((What?))

Din grinned. ((No eat bird yes?))

Prowler purred. ((Yes. Good, Din.))

Sono did not look reassured.

Elliot thought his pokemon were acting somewhat odd when he woke up, but couldn't decide exactly what it was. He recalled them and continued south through the forest.

After several hours, he noticed there was a strange smell in the air, one that slowly mixed into the smell of vibrant life so discretely he couldn't tell when it first appeared.

The smell grew as he continued, growing stronger, more sickening. A smell of putrefaction, something he couldn't recognize because he had never encountered it before.

And when he came upon it at last, gore rose burning in his throat.

Another psyduck – they seemed to be everywhere. The helmet was there – that, too, seemed everywhere. The helmet was still in good condition, the metal shiny.

Strips of flesh were dangling off of it. In some places, Elliot could just make out the bone. It was in a sitting posture, the same way he had always seen it, right next to the road.

The eyes were at last open, staring out from rotten sockets, the eyelids gone.

Had Elliot been capable of looking at it calmly, had he been used to things like this, he would have seen that despite the rot it was still easy to make out the way the chest and stomach were sunken, the remaining pelt tight against the bones, as if by starvation or thirst.

He was not. He ran blindly until he fell to his knees and retched.

-

-

Elliot was shaky, unsteady. He felt a sense of relief when he finally reached Pallet. Earlier in the day he had been scared by what had happened in Viridian, but the shock of seeing a rotten corpse had replaced that, at least partly. He didn't feel as safe as he would have normally, and he still felt nervous, like he was hiding something, but it was better than the fear of stumbling onto some new horror.

He was grateful that he wouldn't have to go back into woods for a time. The next part of his trip would be on a boat, surrounded by other people, and then he'd be on an island.

Elliot quickly found the docks. A boat was leaving in a few hours. It was good luck he'd gotten in that day, as the ferry was only there once every three days. He purchased a ticket, for a price less than that of a meal. He didn't notice how cheap it was. "How come there are only boats here?" he asked the man there. "Why aren't there ferries in Fuchsia?"

"Haven't any idea," said the man dismissively. "Doesn't matter, anyway."

"Oh…yeah, I guess so."

Elliot boarded the ship early. He felt better already, the strange surroundings distracting him from his thoughts. He didn't go to find his room. He wasn't sleepy, after all. Instead, he went to the front of the ship. What was it? The prow? he wondered to himself. He'd never been on a boat before.

The wood rocked under his feet. It was strangely hard to get used to. The motion was gentle enough to forget about for a moment, but strong enough to make you stumble if you forgot about it while taking a step.

When Elliot stumbled his sixth time, he knocked into the railing. The lower rung bumped the three pokeballs on that side, and they opened.

Sono, Discord, and Prowler appeared, taking in their surroundings. Sono fluttered nervously, upset more by the dampness than the movement. Discord let out a soft whimper and latched onto the bottom of the railing, afraid of being blown off. Prowler's claws flexed once, digging deep into the wood instinctively when she felt the motion, but then relaxed. She sniffed the air. She had never been anywhere like this before.

"Sorry, guys," Elliot said. He pulled off two of the pokeballs, one in each hand, and recalled Sono and Discord. He replaced them and was about to pick Prowler's Ultraball when she spoke.

((I want to stay out. I haven't seen this before.))

"But it's a boat and you're a persian and..."

((And?))

"It's all wet," Elliot said lamely.

She cocked her head at him curiously. ((It is.))

"So you're a persian and persians don't like water."

((Where did you hear that? I like water. Especially if there are fish.))

"But…"

Prowler reared up onto her hind legs and stood against the railing, looking down. She ignored him.

"But there are people everywhere," Elliot said, realizing the fact he was losing an argument with his pokemon in public a moment after the words left his mouth. He glanced around, making sure no one was watching him.

((All the more reason,)) said Prowler firmly. ((I won't be able to do anything inside there.))

Elliot remembered what 'doing anything' had involved with the trainer they'd met on the road two days ago. "Please don't scratch anyone this time. Please?"

Prowler didn't answer.

"Please?"

((I will not do anything unless I have reason.))

"Prowler, waving your hand isn't a threat."

Prowler looked at him pityingly. Elliot sighed. "Fine. But I'll ask if I need help, okay? If I scream, then you can do something. Okay?"

Prowler didn't answer. She flopped down on the deck.

"Okay." Elliot continued up the boat. He wanted to go to the very tip.

Once there, he stared over the edge, amazed by how the water was split apart and tossed up in two white lines of froth. He didn't know why, but it was almost hypnotizing…

"Hi!"

Elliot jumped backward, surprised. A girl, about eleven, had snuck up next to him.

"My name's Pauline."

"I'm Elliot."

"Is that your persian?" she said, pointing. Prowler was hissing at an older trainer who had nearly stepped on her tail.

Elliot blushed, looking down. "Um, yeah."

"It looks great! I've never seen a persian that big. My mom's was a lot smaller. Did you buy it somewhere?"

"No, I caught her in the mountains near Viridian."

"Lucky!" she said. "I wish I could find a pokemon like that."

No, you don't, Elliot thought, his temporary happy mood vanishing as he remembered the Jenny. "She can cause a lot of trouble," he said.

The girl laughed. "I bet! I hear big, high-level pokemon can be hard to handle. I'm impressed you can control it." She grinned. "Hey, want to have a pokemon battle? I've got an eevee and I'm trying to get him to evolve."

"Sure," Elliot said, picking a pokeball. "Into what? An espeon or an umbreon?"

"I don't care which one. I like both! So I decided to just leave it to chance." She tossed a Greatball.

Elliot threw his pokeball, releasing Howler.

"Quick attack!"

"Flame wheel!" Elliot yelled, but Howler was knocked back before he could attack the eevee. The move misfired, flying upward and missing entirely.

"Bite!" Howler did so, grabbing the smaller pokemon by the back.

"Tickle him, Vee!"

The eevee wiggled his tail over Howler's face and neck. Surprised, the growlithe released his grip. Vee landed perfectly, and immediately tackled Howler. The growlithe started an ember attack, but Vee ran back, making distance, then dodged the attack when it came.

"Finish it off, Vee! Take down!"

The eevee charged, sending Howler flying. The growlithe struggled to stand up again.

"Return, Howler," Elliot said. "Wow, you're pretty good." He handed her money.

"It's nothing," she said modestly. "You wouldn't believe how weak the rest of my pokemon are. I train Vee mostly, so he's stronger than most people who train all of their pokemon evenly. Once he evolves, I think I'll try doing that too."

"What other pokemon do you have?" Elliot asked curiously, noticing she had only five pokeballs.

"A paras, a poliwag, an ekans, and a clefairy. I used to have a psyduck, but he got so boring, so I let him go just before I got here."

Elliot stared at her cheerful face, then rushed to the side of the boat and threw up.

"Seasickness," someone murmured sympathetically off to his left.

* * *

Well, what do you think?

I imagine Prowler's about cougar-size. So she'd be bigger than the persian stats in the pokedex (unless the numbers refer to height and not length). But I think it's okay because in the game people report pokemon are all different sizes. Anyway, large cats often like water. Actually, so do housecats. The reason Kitty tries to climb out on your arm is that cats don't like unstable ground, and if you touch water, that's what it feels like, ground that doesn't support your weight. Since Prowler's smart enough to understand water, she's not scared of it at all.

Next chapter: Well, Blaine did look angry, but he can't have had anything to do with it. Right?


	15. Fear

Yet another chaptery thing.

Long author notes this time. But a long chapter too, so I hope it evens out.

Two people were confused by the battle scene, so I'll explain my reasoning. People usually think of fire burning anything flammable, but it actually has a lot to do with temperature. Like alcohol, which burns at a very low temperature and doesn't produce enough heat to burn wood. And then there's the matter of different kinds of wood. Flames themselves tend not to be that hot, too, it's really the actual burning stuff that's hottest. We also know the flames get hotter as the pokemon gets stronger, so I figure that a weak pokemon like Howler using a weak attack over a wide range probably wouldn't manage to burn anything at all. And the same thing probably applies to all other types. A tackle from a high level evolved pokemon might shatter stone, and a tackle from a young rattata probably wouldn't even shake a tree. At least, that's my idea for why pokemon battles usually seem to do so little damage to their surroundings. I assume the boat is also probably varnished with something to protect it.

Hi Eatacheesemonkey! I'm afraid the psyduck subplot won't be ending any time soon. I've still got plenty more to explore! At least four more bits, one of which is in this chapter, and I'll probably think of even more as the story continues.

Elliot has only talked to his mother so far, so I don't know about his father. Hm…And Elliot and his mother don't talk much because Elliot is trying desperately to be independent. Even when he does get lonely, I doubt he realizes it, and when he's in towns, he usually gets distracted.

Hi, Nott! It's great to hear you like the story.

Koga's battle was suspicious, but it's confusing too. His ariados was strong enough to defeat Din in a few seconds, and without much effort. If Elliot's next pokemon had been about that strong or weaker, Koga should have won. So it's hard to tell what Koga was trying to do. Perhaps the battle this chapter will shed a bit more light on it.

I'm glad you like Prowler. She's a favored character of mine too (I'm trying to give the pokemon kind of equal exposure, but she's so much more versatile and interesting than the others that she gets way more time). But although she seems smart and sane to us, Caw is adamant that she's either lying or delusional, possibly both, and Caw seems to know what he's talking about. So who knows?

The Jennies were both different. The boy dies earlier, in some town between Cerulean and Saffron, and the girl is killed later, somewhere below Viridian. In fact, there's no way of knowing if there's any connection between the two.

And funny you should mention Team Rocket…

* * *

_Like the vast blue sea, the world of pokemon spans depths beyond belief._

_- Swimmer Kate_

Chapter 15: Fear

-

Elliot stepped onto firm, dry land. He'd just gotten used to the movement of the boat, and promptly stumbled and nearly hit the dock face-first. Prowler, walking a bit shakily herself, caught the back of his shirt before he fell.

Safely off the boat, Elliot looked around him. There was a bewildering bustle of movement everywhere. Dozens of stalls filled the street, with every vender yelling out their wares and prices.

Prowler's ears slowly began to flatten. It was too noisy. Elliot noticed what Prowler was doing, although he interpreted it as a gesture of irritation instead of just an attempt to muffle the sound, and recalled her.

He started down the street and wandered around until, by luck, he managed to pick out a sign for the Pokemon Center amid the chaos. Following the arrow, he found a mammoth building, easily twice the size of the Viridian Pokecenter.

Entering, he found it filled with other trainers of various ages. He walked up to the front counter where a Nurse Joy stood serenely amid the pandemonium.

"Hi," he said. "Um, could you tell me where the Gym is?"

She smiled cheerily. "Just go down the street to the right and you'll see the sign. You can't miss it."

Elliot could. He walked along, all the way out of the stores and tourists. He kept going until he came to a dead end.

There was a building there, a charred, empty shell. An old chain-link fence surrounded it, torn open in places and collapsed in others.

Few places would have acted as a better magnet. Without another thought about the Gym, Elliot ducked through a gap, pushed open one blackened door, and headed in.

It was dim inside, light entering though dirty windows and gaps in the walls. The ceiling had collapsed in some areas, rendering it impassible. Elliot could hear the sounds of pokemon scurrying around out of sight.

He kept going, looking around. What was this place? he wondered. What caused the fire? Why hadn't it been torn down?

Elliot found a staircase. Although looking somewhat battered, all the steps were still in place. Without a thought for his safety, not considering much of the building had already collapsed and the rest was probably unstable, Elliot started to climb.

The second level was in better condition, although there were now open patches in the floor. Miscellaneous, unrecognizable objects littered the ground. Elliot picked one up, a mess of fused metal and plastic, and then discarded it again.

Elliot saw a large, sliding metal door, half-open, a small chunk of the collapsed ceiling jamming it. Above, Elliot could see the exposed metal beams of the ceiling's frame. He climbed over the rubble and into the next room.

Most of the third level had dropped through completely, making a wall, but the room didn't appear too badly burnt. Half of a desk was still visible, blackened but with two intact drawers. Elliot opened the top one, found it empty, and then tried the bottom one. A charred leather-bound book was inside. He picked it up.

The bottom of the book was ash, crumbling away under his touch. Gingerly, he opened it. The first few pages were blackened and illegible. He turned them carefully until he came to a page where the top was still white enough for him to make out writing.

_July 5_

_It seems the r mors of a po mo in the uncharted so thern jungles were tr e. We have managed to c tch it, the l nd y called_

What jungles? Elliot wondered. He remembered hearing something about a chain of islands existing below Cinnabar. Maybe it was talking about them. Were there really huge jungles on islands, though?

This place was old, so whatever pokemon they were talking about must have been discovered long ago. Elliot wondered if his pokedex would know which pokemon the journal talked about. He'd never wondered when or how pokemon were found before. It had always seemed like they just were. He decided to search his pokedex to see if it recorded where each pokemon was first discovered. He wanted to find out which pokemon the writer had found. Maybe the pokedex would even tell him who had found it, so he might be able to figure out who the writer was and what they were doing here.

Elliot put the book into his bag carefully. He looked around, suddenly aware of how empty everything was. And…if there were people here in the fire, then what if some of them had died? And what if they were still…in…

Elliot swallowed nervously. He tried not to spin around to look behind him. He felt jittery and strange, like he wanted to run and freeze at the same time. He'd felt the same once when he'd stumbled upon a mass of caterpie in the woods a year before, not wanting to move and run into the same thing, but suddenly panicked and scared of being alone.

He started to retrace his steps, walking in the too-fast gait of someone trying to fight the urge to run. He wasn't moving as carefully as before. As he started down the stairs, his foot came down with a hard thump on one step, and it cracked apart under him.

He screamed, losing his balance and falling painfully on his rear. He got back up and began to race down the stairs, making the damaged wood groan under the force, which only spurred him on. He had to go fast, what if the stairs broke while he was trying to go down and he was stuck up there? He didn't stop at the bottom, and kept running until he was out the door and through the fence.

Outside in daylight, his heartbeat slowed and he began to feel embarrassed about getting so scared. He took several deep breaths, trying to calm down, and started back the way he came. He found the returning noise and bustle reassuring now instead of an annoyance. The presence of so many people dispelled any lingering fear he had.

Left and right could get confused when retracing steps. Elliot turned in the wrong direction. There was so much going on that by the time he realized he hadn't gone that way, he was well away from the street he'd started on. Not worried enough to want to go to the nearest adult and ask for help, he tried taking a left at a street he thought he'd seen before…and then a right, and a left, until he was not only lost but hadn't a chance of retracing his steps and starting over.

Looking around for something he recognized as he wandered, he finally saw a sign for the Gym amid the neon storefronts and headed in the direction it indicated. He moved closer and closer to the center of the island until he came to a building pressed up against the side of a tall, narrow, barren mountain. The huge sign above announced it as the Gym.

He entered. It was sweltering inside. "Hello?" he called. It was empty, and seemed smaller than it had looked from the outside. It was much wider than it was long, as if it had been cut in half to accommodate the side of the mountain. In front of him, up against the too-near wall, was a flight of descending stairs. He started down them.

Elliot had to pause, his head feeling a bit light, before managing to continue. The heat was worse than in the upper building, as if it was wafting directly from the ground. He headed down the stairs. They looked as if they'd been cut directly into the stone. It only got hotter as he went down, and Elliot had the fleeting thought he was walking into Hell. At the bottom, he found himself staring at two huge, double doors. He grabbed them by the handles, the metal almost hot enough to burn, and quickly pushed them open and let go.

Standing on the far end of the chamber was an old man. The room was almost egg shaped, with the sides highest and the center lowest. Between them was a depression he couldn't see into because of the angle.

"Finally here?" the man said.

"Were – were you expecting me?" Elliot asked nervously, stepping into the room. There was a blast of heat as he entered. "You're Blaine, right?"

The man ignored his question. "A three on three battle. Agreed?"

"Yes, but how…"

The Gym Leader tossed a pokeball. A ninetales formed in the center area, just visible over the lip of the rocks. Elliot walked further into the sloped room. Once he was closer, he saw that that it wasn't just a lower area, but an actual hole, with an arena suspended over bubbling lava. Elliot's legs went weak as he stared over the edge. What if he fell in?

"Well?" asked the Gym Leader.

No, he was safe, although the knowledge could only banish a little of the fear. But the pokemon…they would be in real danger. What if they fell in?

This looked incredibly dangerous. The chains holding up the floor looked thin, even flimsy, like they might snap. And the rocks on the walls were rough and pitted. They didn't look too strong. What if the rock the chains were anchored on broke? Or what if a pokemon slipped?

"Well?" Blaine repeated, sounding even more annoyed.

But it was a gym battle, so it must have been like a roller coaster, he reasoned, something that looked like it could come apart at any time, but really it was made of super materials and was all scientifically engineered and very safe. Elliot reached down to pick a pokeball. He grabbed Caw's. Caw wouldn't need to worry about falling at all, because he could fly. Even if he was just being stupid the same way he felt scared just by looking over the edge, he'd still rather not worry.

"Go!" he yelled.

Caw formed, flapping above the ground. He barely glanced around.

The ninetales cocked his head. ((You again?)) he said, his voice making it more of a comment to himself than a question. Caw didn't bother answering, it was rhetorical anyway.

"Ninetales, fire blast!"

"Fly, Caw!"

Fire blast was a slow attack. The ninetales concentrated, then released it. By that point, Caw had moved.

"On down!" the man yelled. "Now, ember!"

_On down?_ Elliot wondered what that meant for a few seconds before realizing Caw was dodging tiny flame balls and that he needed to give another order.

"Dive at it!"

Caw dived obediently. The ninetales hit him with a fire blast. He seemed ready for this, banking slightly to the side so that he didn't pass through the center and didn't take full damage, and flew into the ninetales before using his remaining momentum to reclaim the distance. He didn't fly up again, instead remaining at medium height, the same place he'd started at.

((Don't you get tired of that?)) the ninetales asked.

Caw still didn't answer. It was pointless and besides, pokemon weren't supposed to talk during battles. The ninetales had always been too cocky, too aloof, not taking battles seriously like the rest of them.

The murkrow's feathers were singed. Had he been Sono or another lighter-colored bird pokemon, his trainer would probably have recalled him. But his charcoal-black feathers hid the damage perfectly. He beat his wings harder, trying to stay mobile despite damage to several crucial feathers. The ninetales made no notice of this, not caring if he was slower and less able to dodge. And the ninetales' trainer wasn't close enough to tell himself.

"Try faint attack!" Elliot ordered. Caw vanished and reappeared, striking the fox pokemon hard in his side.

"Flamethrower!"

The ninetales opened his mouth and shot thick flames at Caw, who beat his wings rapidly and managed to avoid part of the attack. This time the feathers on his lower body were the worst burnt, and the damage was growing more noticeable. His tailfeathers were now half-missing. He tried to hover in place, badly unbalanced.

Elliot wasn't aware of the specific damage, but he had noticed that the ninetales had managed to counterattack each time he ordered Caw to use a move. He needed a better idea. What else could Caw use? He tried to remember what moves murkrow learned that they could use from a distance, but came up blank. Wing attack, quick attack, peck, drill peck…they were all moves where Caw had to be right next to the ninetales. What else…

Of course! "Caw, use whirlwind!" Elliot shouted. Caw was surprised, but quickly beat his wings, creating stronger and stronger gusts. The attack was weaker than usual because the gaps in his wings made it harder to push the air, but it worked. The ninetales hunched down and tried to hold on to the ground with his claws, but they couldn't dig into the hard platform. His nine tails made things worse, presenting a larger area for the air to hit. He slid back slowly.

Well before the fire type reached the edge, the Gym Leader withdrew him. Without a word, he threw another pokeball, releasing an arcanine. The pokemon was far larger and more compact, making the ninetales look almost dainty in comparison. Elliot didn't even consider trying whirlwind again.

Wing attack would probably slow Caw down. What would allow Caw to fly around the quickest? Peck. That would leave his wings free. "Caw! Peck at it!"

Caw flew at her, aiming mainly at her face and ears, weaving around. The ninetales would have swatted him out of the air immediately, but the slower arcanine's reactions were delayed by crucial seconds. She attacked where he had been. Her eyes were forced shut under Caw's barrage, further decreasing her accuracy and speed. Her paws managed to clip him a few times, knocking him off balance for an instant or so, but he always recovered.

Although Caw appeared to be easily outclassing his opponent to Elliot, in reality dodging took up energy. His muscles were strained, the situation made worse by the missing feathers that caused a lack of precision and efficiency. He had only the barest control over what direction he went in, and keeping up constant motion while his body strained to remain balanced was exhausting him.

Elliot, in keeping with what he had seen in tournaments and TV shows, was not content to continue with the same move, even if it was or appeared to be working. He was focused strongly on the battle, and couldn't sit back and relax slightly like an older trainer might have been able to do. He had to stay part of it, and just as using a move was a pokemon's contribution, ordering a move was the trainer's. "Drill peck!"

Peck was a move carried out in a single motion. Drill peck was a stronger attack, but also a longer one. Caw would have to hold still, and during that time the arcanine would get him.

Caw aimed the attack close to the arcanine's eyes, then began a rapid, repeated pecking moment that battered flesh by repetition. A moment later, the arcanine smacked him, knocking him down onto the platform so hard his body bounced.

"Return, Caw," Elliot said, withdrawing the crumpled pile of feathers. He picked up Sono's pokeball. As another flyer, she should be next. "Go!"

The arcanine watched this through puffy, bruised eyelids. Caw hadn't drawn blood, but he'd done significant damage, crushing internal blood vessels and breaking them. Left as she was, it was possible she could even go blind after several days. As a human-owned pokemon, there was no risk of that. She would be healed at a Center in only minutes and return in perfect condition.

Currently, though, she was in a great deal of pain. She shook her head, pawing at it. Her eyes were almost shut, the bloated tissue making it impossible to open them wider. She struggled to focus on her new opponent, who looked demoralizingly similar to her previous one.

"Flamethrower!" She tried, but the attack didn't hit. Her injury was severe, but it was bloodless. small and well concealed under her fur. She was also facing away from her trainer, who was closer and also more likely to notice. Neither trainer could see the extent of the damage. But both assumed that, for whatever reason, she was having aiming problems.

"Sono, use quick attack!"

Sono flew at her, using her short wings to turn out of the way whenever the arcanine attempted to line up an attack. Sono wasn't as fast or agile as Caw, nor as strong, but the arcanine was crippled. Finally, the arcanine wailed pitiably, cowering on the platform and trying to cover her face with her paws. Blaine recalled her.

Blaine was no Koga. Where Koga would be willing to take a risk, Blaine wasn't. He knew his opponent's pokemon were probably weak, with the murkrow being the strongest, but that didn't mean he should take a risk. He might have lost the first two fights to bad luck, but he wouldn't lose the third.

For his third pokemon, a weaker magmar. It'd be more than strong enough for anything a young trainer could have simply by its species. It was unlikely his opponent would even have something that could attack it.

At his command one rose out of the pit. Elliot watched in amazement as it climbed slowly up the rock of the side.

It could move fast as well, something Elliot discovered a moment too late when the magmar, upon reaching the platform, lunged for Sono, punching her with a burning fist. The spearow fainted without a sound, and Elliot recalled her.

Elliot couldn't use Discord. The jigglypuff was too light; he might get blown off into the lava. Prowler had told him not to use Din. Maybe Howler…but it wasn't really a good idea to use fire types against fire types, and besides, Howler had fought on the boat and Elliot had forgotten to heal him, so the growlithe would be weak. That left Prowler.

"Go, Prowler!" he yelled.

Prowler took a moment to examine her surroundings. It was hot, and there was a strange instability to the hard ground. There was a horrible, alien mixture of smells that made her gag for a second. The smells of sulfur and oxidation, things she'd never encountered before. She felt a momentary flash of panic as she felt like she would suffocate, but deliberately forced herself to breath normally. Although the smells were ones she associated with poison, they were weak.

She'd also never met anything like the thing before her either. It looked like…the only discernable feature she could pick out was the beak. The bizarre, confusing flame pattern over its body prevented her from properly making out its limbs, making it look like an oddly formed and strangely vertical pile of flaming red rock. It was also giving off heat, enough to make it noticeable despite the overall high temperature.

Prowler had never fought something like it, but she did know enough to ignore Elliot's orders of slash. She wasn't touching it until she had a better idea of what it was. And although she could tell it was hot, she couldn't make out if it was too hot to touch or bearable. She opened her mouth instead and spat out weak bubbles. She wasn't very good at the move, but knew it was disorienting even if it didn't do enough damage to finish off an opponent by itself. The exploding bubbles caused the magmar to flinch and pull back, ignoring Blaine's orders of fire punch.

Seeing it to be distracted, she crept closer, feeling the heat rise as it grew nearer. It was far too hot for her, but she could stand it for a while before she overheated. And she could probably swipe at the magmar without being burned as long as she didn't try to hold onto it. She paused her bubbles to scratch its side. She could just make out the smell of blood over the gases, the only way she knew it was there. Relying on vision alone, she was unable to make out the red in its matching hide even at such close range.

The magmar bellowed angrily and then tried to use the move it had been ordered earlier, punching at her with a heat-wrapped hand. She ducked it, sinking down closer to the platform, and began slicing him with her claws, raising larger and larger cuts until she could even make them out in the over-complex markings on its body. By keeping up the attack she forced it to try to defend rather than attack, flinching back under her assault. It managed to punch her when she paused, raising a scorch on her back, but it was only a light wound.

Her attacks caused only light wounds as well. The magmar showed no signs of being worn down. She couldn't tear at it, because of the heat, which prevented her from doing real damage.

"Push it to the edge, Prowler!" Elliot yelled. Pokemon that left the arena automatically forfeited the match. Prowler seemed to be doing a good job of driving the magmar around, but he could see she didn't seem able to knock it out.

Edge? Prowler wondered. She loped toward the sides of the platform. Once nearer she was able to see that she was not just in a raised area, as she had thought, but actually suspended over a pit. She hadn't realized that. Automatically, she looked for an escape route, finding none. And then the magmar tackled her, pushing her nearer to the brink.

She screamed in pain, clawing at it and trying to tear it off. She pulled away, her body throbbing from the heat, and spat out more bubbles while backing away, going even closer to the edge. The magmar, sensing an end to the fight, advanced despite her attack, and Prowler slid to the side. She didn't usually attack from head on.

Then she remembered what Elliot had said before she'd been distracted. Drive the pokemon to the edge. She roared and jumped.

The magmar stumbled back from the double intimidation of sound and motion, overbalanced, and fell off the platform. Prowler's leap brought her to the very edge, and she quickly scrambled backward.

Blaine was different from Koga in a second way. Koga's room was smaller, the poison-type Gym Leader closer to any opponent. Here the distance hid Blaine's expression. And that was lucky, because he was far worse at keeping a calm face than Koga.

From the other side, Blaine flicked a badge at Elliot, whose heart almost stopped as he saw the tiny, precious object seem to hover over the pit threateningly. But it completed its arc, landing almost perfectly as he caught it. Blaine had done this before.

Prowler's annoyed yowl reminded him of her existence. Her mouth was open and she was panting in a futile attempt to cool down. She did not want to remain in the stinking, burning room a moment longer. Elliot recalled her and left the Gym.

When he returned to the Center, a new problem presented itself.

"So do I have to wait until a ferry gets here to leave again?" Elliot asked, retrieving his healed pokemon.

The Nurse Joy was smiling cheerfully, projecting enough optimism that Elliot felt the last of his lingering doubts fade. "You could if you wanted to, but if you want to leave before then, all you have to do is surf on a pokemon. The northern route is a bit long, so you should probably take the eastern one to Fuchsia."

"But I don't have a pokemon that can do that."

"That isn't a problem," she said perkily. "Cinnabar offers rental pokemon that can be dropped off at another Center to be returned." She handed him a small, simplified map. "Just follow this route," she said, pointing to the red line snaking over the paper.

"Oh, okay," Elliot said. "Do a lot of people ask you this?"

"Yes."

"Then why do the ferries only cover one route?"

The Nurse Joy's sunny smile didn't falter. "I don't know. It's not really important."

"Yeah," Elliot agreed, still uncertain.

Elliot left, following the map until he came to a small building near the beach. The sand was covered with sunbathers.

Inside the building, he found it to be the same as other stores he'd entered, right down to the tiled floor. A man waited behind the counter.

"Um, hi," Elliot said. "I'd like to rent a pokemon."

The man picked a pokeball from behind the counter. "This is a blastoise. It's strong, dependable, and a fast swimmer." He handed it to Elliot. No money was exchanged. "But you'll need to leave a pokemon here. You can't carry seven pokemon."

"Okay," Elliot said, handing the man Discord's Safariball without misgivings. He couldn't let Discord out while he was at the ocean anyway, it was too windy.

"You can get it back when you go to the Center to return the blastoise," the man said.

Elliot walked back onto the beach, up to the water, and released the water type, prompting impressed cries from the children swimming. They clustered around it. Elliot climbed onto the huge shell and it began to swim, slicing through the water at a speed he wouldn't have thought such a large pokemon could achieve.

At first it was interesting just to watch the island recede and the water move, but Elliot grew bored. He took out his pokedex and began flipping through the pictures. He began to feel lonely. Although he was sitting atop a living pokemon, he wasn't interacting with it; it might as well have been a motorboat.

He started to reach for Caw's pokeball but then remembered how damp it was. Birds didn't like wet. Neither did Howler. He could let Din out but she might fall in the water. So it was Prowler who was out again.

She was getting more used to the scenery jumps. She stumbled slightly before she adjusted to the motion, then looked around. ((This is something new,)) she observed. ((What's happening?))

"We're riding a blastoise back to Fuchsia," Elliot said. "I think there's a series of island caves soon."

((Hm…)) Prowler said. She lay down, head peeking over the side of the blastoise's shell into the spray. For no reason, just having her out made Elliot feel better. He returned to his pokedex.

He looked at the entry for Din. Poochyena, it said, would chase and bite anything they encountered, but they'd usually run away if they were attacked. That didn't sound like Din at all. She'd stood up to much larger, stronger pokemon. That didn't make sense.

He asked Prowler what she thought. Sleepily, she said it was obvious and that whoever said that didn't know anything at all.

((Of course they run,)) she said. ((They're only children. If you were playing with a pokemon and it attacked you, wouldn't you run? They don't want a fight.))

Elliot remembered following pidgey around and trying to catch them for fun, and how he'd run away once the pokemon got annoyed with him and knocked him away with a gust. "That does make sense," he said. "But it doesn't sound like they were playing if they were biting. It sounds like they were really attacking."

((Din has thick fur,)) Prowler said.

"So?"

((So a bite that would hurt you would just be playing to her. Poochyena probably are just trying to play with other things like they play with their sisters. And then when the other thing tries to hurt them when they think they are being friendly, they are frightened and run. Wouldn't you?))

Elliot thought he would. They sat silently for several minutes, when the blastoise suddenly jerked and roared in pain.

Elliot yelled as well, grabbing onto the shell to avoid falling in the water. Prowler took the events better. She leaned further over as the pokemon thrashed, then quickly swiped at the water with her paw, pulling a soft, mushy, formless pokemon out onto the shell. She sniffed at it curiously.

The blastoise recovered and continued to swim.

((Do you know what this is?)) Prowler asked.

Elliot released his grip and looked. "That's just a tentacool. My mom's friend used to keep them in a big tank. They live in the ocean and they're really common. See, they can sting you with the tentacles, so you shouldn't touch that part. Well, really you shouldn't touch them at all but people don't usually listen."

Prowler bit at the top. Doing this to a rattata would have caused Elliot to yell and tell her to stop immediately, but tentacool looked so alien it was hard to think about them the same way. It tasted salty and had the consistency of rotten fat. She tossed it back into the water.

The ride continued uneventfully until they reached an island. The blastoise powered through the shallows to make it up to dry, burning sand, allowing its passengers to land without getting themselves wet. The two jumped off.

"This should be Seafoam," Elliot said, talking to himself.

((Seafoam?)) Prowler repeated.

"It's a volcanic island or something. And it's supposed to be faster to go through than around." Elliot recalled the blastoise. He turned to recall Prowler but she wasn't there. Looking around, he realized she was waiting by the edge of the cave mouth.

"You don't want to go back in your pokeball?" Elliot asked, trotting to catch up. "It's all wet in there."

((I can swim,)) she said, walking ahead of him into the cave.

"That's not what I meant," Elliot said.

The rocks inside were translucent, seemingly lit from the inside with a soft, bluish-white glow. The water seemed to glow slightly as well, or perhaps that was just light coming from the bottom.

Prowler sniffed the damp air. ((There's something strange here,)) she said.

"What?"

((I don't know,)) she said, walking over the smooth, glowing stones. They were oddly waterworn, as though the area had previously been underwater. But that didn't make sense. The rock was level. If water had slowly worn the ground down so that the water receded, it would be slanted.

Elliot began making his way through. The island was a bunch of honeycombed caves, with varying degrees of water levels. There was always a path through it, though, even if it was sometimes just a strip of rock with water at either side.

The water seemed to be moving from the slightly rippled surface. Elliot reached down to touch it and was surprised by the strength of the current.

Looking around, Elliot noticed how even and straight everything was. There were no sharp corners, but there weren't any meandering, curving lines either. It was laid out somewhat like someone's planned natural-style garden.

But that was ridiculous. It must have just been how the water cut. What did he know about it, really?

There was only one real path, despite how huge and mystifying the cave seemed. Elliot soon realized he must have been most of the way through.

A glint of yellow caught his eye, conspicuous against the milky rocks. He leaned over to pick it up.

Then slipped and fell into the water.

Elliot knew how to swim. But the abruptness of the event, the shock of the cold water, the splash spraying his eyes with burning salt and forcing them shut, the current pulling him under, all disoriented him. With his eyes closed he couldn't see, and with the force of the water he couldn't feel gravity. He didn't even know which way was up and air and which was water. He froze up, not moving, which, of his options, was probably the worst.

A moment later Prowler jumped in as well, biting the neck of his shirt and pulling him upright. She had swum in strong currents before, rivers, and she focused on just trying to float and not go under. Elliot was too big for her to pull ashore. She'd have trouble swimming against the current on her own. She waited, knowing that sooner or later they'd be pushed closer to ground and that she could try to get out then.

They weren't in the water long. The current whipped them along until they were knocked ashore on a small outcrop of rock that was above the water.

Elliot coughed, eyes still shut from the salt. He felt a blast of cold air, like opening a freezer door.

_Cuno__…_

Elliot's eyes opened. There was a huge, glimmering white bird in front of them. It beat its wings once, the gust chilling Elliot's bones, and flew away.

The temperature returned to normal. Elliot stood and looked around. He could see the main path off in the distance and tossed the borrowed pokeball, releasing the blastoise. He realized he was still holding something, the rock he'd picked up earlier, and dropped it into his bag. He'd look at it later. He climbed atop the blastoise.

"Prowler," he said. The persian hadn't moved. She had a shocked expression. "Prowler! Come on."

She walked over, still looking dazed, and climbed on. The blastoise began to swim, much slower and more laboriously than it had earlier.

"Wasn't that amazing?" Elliot said. "I've never seen a pokemon like that before. It looked almost like Articuno. Do you think it could have been?"

((Articuno…)) Prowler said softly.

A group of psyduck were playing in the water, kept in a corner against the wall where the current wouldn't bother them. Several golduck kept watch.

"Weird," Elliot said, watching them. "They don't look anything like the ones I saw."

The psyduck were almost hyperactive. They jumped out of the water, dove back under, scrambled on and off land, all while making noise. They didn't appear to notice Elliot.

The golduck did. They watched him warily but didn't leave.

Prowler called to them. Elliot couldn't make out what she said. The golduck replied.

"What did you ask?" Elliot said.

((If they knew why the god was here.))

"So that really was…" Elliot was stunned.

((The god of ice, yes. They said only that this is where the god had been and this is where it returns.))

The golduck began yelling. Prowler snarled and they were quiet again.

"What happened?"

((They said I betrayed Articuno by telling you how to catch it. I told them you were not smart enough to catch Articuno and so it is fine.))

Elliot felt insulted. "I could too catch Articuno," he said.

((You cannot even swim,)) she told him.

Elliot decided not to argue. "Can you ask them about the psyduck? All the ones I've seen act different. Why are they so active?"

Prowler asked. The golduck looked at each other, shifting uneasily and watching Elliot. One replied.

((They say it is wrong to fight with psyduck,)) she reported. ((Perhaps that is why.))

-

-

Elliot made it to Fuchsia by the evening without anything else happening. He headed to the Pokecenter to sleep for the night and exchanged his pokemon, getting Discord back.

The next morning, he headed north, towards Celadon. He wanted to get there as soon as possible. Once he got his fourth badge, he'd be halfway to having all of them. For this reason, he didn't stop, but kept going even when it began to get dark.

"Hey, kid."

Two men stepped from the shadows of the path. Elliot stopped and then took a step back, seeing the red letter on both their shirts.

One glanced at the other. "This the one?"

"Looks it." The man looked at Elliot. "Hand over your pokemon without a fight if you don't want trouble."

It was much worse than it had ever seemed on television. There, the hero could laugh and beat them up, and they'd run away. But they were older than him and there were two and who knew how strong they were. Elliot tried not to be afraid, but he wanted to run away, wanted to wake up suddenly and not have to worry, wanted for someone else to come along to fight them, wanted to not be there, to never have been there.

"Well?" One stepped toward him.

But he couldn't let them take his pokemon. He tossed the first pokeball his hand touched. Howler appeared.

"So you want a fight, kid?"


	16. Uncertainty, Wrapped in Flowers

Hello everyone! I'm sorry this chapter is so late, real life decided I should be doing other things. The Mad Tortoise – Someone who doesn't trust Prowler! Yay! And Prowler _is_ suspicious, just not that overtly. Slightly more on that this chapter. But just slightly. Prowler's full story won't be known until quite a few more chapters. The plot progresses very, very slowly in this story. And who's to say the Jennies and Joys are evil? Maybe they're good. Nott – You think Elliot's realistic too? Thanks! I have seen a few other trainers who are ten, but usually they're just the same as the twelve year olds and the fourteen year olds. I don't know why, it seems like a ten year old just fits so much better into the world. 

Really? I love beating topics to death too! Probably why I wrote this story. I guess it's just about what you think a burn is. I've seen it differently in fanfiction. Sometimes it's having the pokemon charred and burnt, and sometimes it's having the pokemon actually smolder. I always thought of a burn as the sort of burns I've gotten. It doesn't take a lot of heat to wind up with a huge welt that hurts a lot. I touched a piece of hot metal once and couldn't move my hand for a week. And that wasn't anywhere near the temperature that would even light paper.

What high-level pokemon? As Gabrielle said, there aren't any older trainers and there probably never were. So it seems it's just the kiddies fighting. (Not that that's ominous or anything.)

Keleri – I think people don't like showing weaknesses sometimes because you feel stupid admitting that a few years ago, you wouldn't have gone into the basement at night…and that even now you don't really _want_ to.

* * *

Uncertainty, Wrapped in Flowers

-

Prowler was knocked down again. She didn't stand. Elliot started to recall her, preparing to run, but the raticate blocked the red beam.

"That all we're supposed to get?" one asked.

"Yeah."

"Din!" Elliot yelled, throwing his last pokeball. The poochyena barked fearfully upon seeing Prowler, badly injured and trying to crawl away. "Take down, Din!"

Din charged at one of the raticate, knocking it back, but the other one immediately tackled her. Orange energy gathered in a glowing ball in front of the first one's mouth, lighting up the dark forest, and then a hyperbeam shot out, tossing Din away.

Prowler had managed to stand and was trying to walk. The other raticate jumped onto her back, forcing her down again. She rolled over and kicked it off with her hind legs, opening long gashes on its belly. The first raticate, having recovered its energy, bit into her exposed stomach. She screamed.

"Hey!" one of the men yelled. "No blood!" The raticate released her and pulled back, head dripping black in the dim light.

Din charged again, sinking her teeth into one raticate's squat neck. It let out a shriek of its own and shook itself, breaking Din's grip and sending her flying into a rock. She slumped down, not moving.

"Return Prow-" One of the men tackled Elliot, knocking the air from his lungs.

"You're not supposed to do that," said the other rocket, not sounding as if he cared.

"Dammit, just get the persian!"

Din stood, glowing. She grew in size and shape, and when the light faded a new pokemon stood there. She growled, fur fluffed out, and the two raticate backed up. The two rockets seemed frozen.

Elliot pulled himself up, recalled them, and ran.

-

-

The Pokemon Center healed his pokemon without comment. Elliot was shaken. The rockets had appeared out of nowhere. They'd nearly beaten him too. And the raticate, digging its teeth into Prowler with all that blood…could it have killed her? He remembered the rocket knocking him down, how painful and terrifying it had been.

He was scared. He wanted to stay there in the town, to never venture out into places without other people and with criminals lurking everywhere and his sudden understanding that they could have killed Prowler and they could have killed Din and they could have killed him.

But he couldn't. He was going to be a pokemon master. That had been…that had always been what he'd wanted, hadn't it? He couldn't go home and tell everyone he was a coward, tell everyone that he'd nearly lost to Team Rocket, had lost to Team Rocket, had only gotten away because of luck and because he'd run.

So that morning, he left.

-

-

"Hey."

Elliot jumped, turning toward the speaker.

The girl laughed. She looked about his age. "Wow, you're nervous. I was just going to ask if you'd have a fight with me."

"O-oh," Elliot said, feeling stupid. "Yeah."

"One on one?" She didn't wait for an answer. She threw a pokeball. A meowth appeared.

Elliot tossed Howler's pokeball. An instant later he regretted it, wished he could undo the motion, pull the ball back before it opened. He couldn't. Besides, he had to fight, she had challenged him.

Howler barked. The meowth hissed back, fur raised and tail puffed.

"Growl, Snowball!" The meowth did, producing a sound more frightened than frightening.

Snowball? Elliot wondered. "Howler, tackle it!"

"Icy wind!"

As Howler started to charge, the meowth tensed, and a chilling breeze blew. Tiny nuggets of ice struck Howler, obscuring his vision. He missed Snowball by inches, then halted and shook, causing a shower of ice crystals. His fur was still frost-coated, crackling as he moved.

"Ember!"

Howler barked, sending out a small ball of flame. It smacked into the meowth, knocking it backward. Snowball yowled, flattening down against the ground.

"No, Snowball! Quick, use fury swipes!"

The meowth ran forward and jumped at Howler. Its tiny claws couldn't do much against Howler's fur, but it tried, scratching wildly. Howler shook himself, trying to knock it off.

"Howler, bite it!"

Howler twisted, managing to bite its tail and pulled it off by that. He shook it, causing a snapping sound. The meowth screeched and he released it, but it didn't quiet down or move from where he dropped it.

"Return, Snowball," the girl said, not sounding that disappointed.

-

-

Elliot entered Celadon minutes later. The girl he'd met was of the stay home breed of trainer, someone without the interest of gaining badges, or perhaps just too timid to want to go out on her own. That sort of thing was common in larger cities, where children were less likely to be bored and desperate for adventure.

Celadon was the kind of place for that sort of thing. It was big, with a large population and plenty of stores, without having enough visitors pass through to make it as urban as Saffron. It was busy but quiet, with even the gambling slots somehow wholesome.

The Pokemon Center was the same as it had been in every other city. Elliot handed the Nurse Joy his pokemon and sat down to wait.

He started to look through his backpack, to see what he needed to buy, and saw the yellow thing he'd found in the Seafoam caves. He'd forgotten about it. He took it out, feeling how heavy it was. Was it gold? He'd heard people sometimes found chunks in caverns and places.

He'd ask a shopkeeper, he decided. He needed to buy more pokemon food anyway, both for his pokemon and himself. When his pokeballs were returned he headed off in the direction of the huge, multilevel department store.

It seemed larger outside than inside. Elliot wandered around until finally coming upon a huge aisle filled with bags and bags of pokemon food. Picking up several, he headed toward the counter and set them down. The man there checked them and told him the price, and Elliot gave him the money.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Elliot rummaged through his bag and retrieved the nugget. It glinted under the florescent lights. "Is this gold? How much is it worth?"

"Oh…five thousand," said the man casually.

"Okay." Elliot started to put it back in his bag.

The man jumped slightly. "Wait, what are you doing?"

"Huh? Oh, I didn't want to sell it. I was just wondering."

The clerk restrained a twitch. "But, erm, it's not like you can use it for anything."

Elliot shrugged, not noticing anything amiss. "Yeah, that's okay." He exited the store.

His pokemon were healed and he had the supplies he needed. Now for the third part of Celadon. Fighting Erika.

In every other city Elliot had traveled to, he'd gone directly from the Pokemon Center to the gym, sometimes even forgetting to heal his pokemon in his haste. But this time, it was the last thing, and he went there because it was what a trainer did, without the excitement and anticipation.

He'd fought the girl because she'd been there and asked, and because trainers didn't ever refuse a fight. But he didn't really…

Trainers fought gym leaders and collected the badges. So that was what he'd do.

The gym he found arose neatly from the concrete, flanked by landscaped hedges. Elliot approached on the paved walkway. The glass doors hummed almost silently as they opened automatically at his approach, and Elliot stepped inside.

The ceiling was made of glass as well, and there were lights shining on the walls. The grass was green and healthy, yet Elliot noticed it was a lot less springy than the grass in the forests, and looking down, he could even just make out dirt between the blades in some places. When he reached down to touch it, he was surprised by how rough the points felt, and how thin the individual strands were. The grass wasn't as thick and lush as it was elsewhere, and the green was less vibrant.

The trees were strangely asymmetrical. On some he could see where it looked like a lower branch had been cut for some reason. How odd.

Thinking back, Elliot realized that park trees and park grass was always like that. He'd just been spending so much time walking between cities that he wasn't used to them anymore.

It really wasn't that strange now that he thought about it. Trees grew bigger in forests, didn't they? Plants were probably always bigger and healthier and thicker in the wild. He remembered how his mother had to buy special lights for the potted palm tree she wanted to keep in the living room, and even then, it never looked like the trees he saw on television desert islands.

There were some flowers here and there, organized into rows and rectangles. Most were small, mainly green bushes dotted with a few light-colored dots, but there were a few flowers that were bright, almost gaudy, mostly bright orange with extravagant petals. There was a faint sweetness to the air, so slight Elliot barely noticed it.

In the middle of the room, past the line of trees, on an open field, there was a group of other children. As Elliot approached, he realized they were all girls. For no reason, he felt a sudden jab of anxiety and shyness. Swallowing once to clear his throat, Elliot spoke.

"I'm here to challenge the gym leader," he said, his voice coming out confident.

A dark-haired girl in the center of the group stepped forward. "I am she." Elliot was somewhat taken aback by her calm, demure expression. This was Erika? "Would three against three be sufficient?"

Elliot wondered, fleetingly, why three on three battles seemed so much more common than any other kind, but responded, "Okay."

"Tangela," the girl said, languidly tossing out a Greatball. A blue bundle of vines formed, eyes peeping out from inside and two red feet, looking comically like those on wind-up toys, jutting out from the bottom.

"Weird," Elliot blurted out. He'd never seen it before, and it looked bizarre enough that he wasn't sure what its attacks were. He opened his pokedex.

"Tangela," it reported. "A grass type covered in vines. No one has ever seen-"

"I know that," Elliot muttered, cutting it off with the press of a button. A list of attacks replaced the pokemon's picture on the screen. Several dusting moves, several tangling moves – he supposed that should have been obvious – and several draining moves.

Howler would work, but he would probably work against any pokemon in the gym. Elliot wanted to save him for last. A flying pokemon would be able to blow away any of the pollens and powders, and fly to avoid the vines. "Sono," Elliot decided. His anxiety was already melting away. The gym was so peaceful, wholesome. It didn't seem like anything bad would happen or ever had.

Sono materialized, fluttering her wings to ease her landing. She looked up at the tangela, which towered over her, and peeped nervously.

"Stunspore, Tangela." The grass type shuddered, a yellow dust coming off of its vines.

"Blow it away!"

Sono beat her wings ineffectually, blowing some of it back. As the first of it touched her she changed tactics, trying to fly away from it instead. She hovered a short distance away, her wings periodically jerking as if she couldn't control them. She was clearly laboring to stay in the air.

"Constrict, Tangela," Erika said calmly. Vines uncurled and snapped toward the bird.

"Dodge it!" Elliot yelled, Sono already wrapped by the time he spoke. The vines squeezed once and then released her. Elliot recalled the unconscious spearow.

Flying types didn't work, then. "Howler!" he yelled.

"Sleep powder."

The tangela quaked again, this time releasing a light blue dust.

"Quick, Howler, use flamethrower!"

The flame burned through the powder and the pokemon. Blackened, the tangela crouched on the ground.

Elliot assumed it was defeated. He was surprised when the girl spoke again.

"Giga drain," she said calmly.

Two blue tendrils lashed out from underneath the charred exterior. They wrapped around Howler's sides, the tips digging painfully into his skin. He yelped, biting through them.

"Flame wheel!"

Howler tilted his head back as if to howl, then snapped his head forward, a ring of flames forming and flying at the tangela. It absorbed the fire without sound, looking little different than it did before the attack, and Elliot couldn't tell if it had fainted or not at first.

Erika recalled it. "Weepinbell," she said, throwing her second pokeball. She didn't order a move immediately.

"Flamethrower!" Elliot ordered.

"Acid."

The purple goop passed through the fire attack, striking Howler directly in the face. Unlike the dust the tangela had produced, the acid couldn't be burned away. But the acid couldn't do much to stop the flame either, and most of Howler's attack hit. The weepinbell shuddered but didn't seem to be that damaged.

Howler whined, pawing at his head as the acid smoked and burned on his fur. It only lasted seconds, wearing off in time for him to hear the next command.

"Take down, Howler!" Howler charged.

"Vine whip."

The weepinbell smacked his forepaws with the tendril from the top of its head. He stumbled, lost control, and tripped, skidding painfully to a halt, the dirt grinding into his sore, burnt muzzle.

"Try again!"

"Vine whip."

Again, Howler was knocked down.

"Ember!"

"Acid."

Howler began to spit out glowing balls. A moment later he jerked under the splash of acid and stopped.

Every time Elliot used a fire attack, Howler stood still and was hit with the acid, but every time Elliot tried a charge Howler was tripped.

"Um…agility, Howler! Then use ember!"

Howler began to run. He wasn't high enough level to be skilled at the move, but he was faster than before.

"Vine whip."

The attack missed. Howler barked, tossing a fireball into the air. He kept moving, dodging the weepinbell's attacks, and continued using ember. Finally, the weepinbell quivered and seemed to deflate, sinking against the ground. Howler stopped. His legs suddenly began to tremble and he lay – almost fell – down himself, breathing heavily. It would have been more noticeable in a human-shaped, two-legged pokemon. Elliot didn't even glance at him. He was watching the gym leader.

"Return," Erika said placidly. She picked a third pokeball. "Vileplume."

"Flame it!"

Howler jumped to his feet, took a deep breath and exhaled a long blast of flame.

"Petal dance."

The vileplume spun, sending out thousands of tiny petals into the air. The attack burned through them and through them until it faded, never reaching the pokemon.

"Bite!" Howler leapt, sinking his teeth into the vileplume's head.

"Stunspore."

The vileplume twitched. Howler jerked and fell off, immobile.

Now what? Elliot wondered. He had four pokemon left. He hadn't let Din out since…what had happened, or Prowler. He didn't want to use them. And Discord wasn't that strong. "Go, Caw!" he yelled. After what happened with Sono, he wouldn't try ordering Caw to blow the attacks back. "Peck!"

"Poisonpowder."

Caw flew at the vileplume as its petals flapped, expelling a thick cloud of purple dust. Although the poisonpowder was released when he was still well away and he should have still had time to turn, he must not have been able, because he flew directly into it to stab at the vileplume with his beak.

"Great! Now fly!"

Caw beat his wings, the powerful gusts diffusing the cloud completely as he pushed himself unsteadily upward, toward the glass ceiling.

"Dive!" Caw plummeted.

"Petal dance." The vileplume twirled again.

Caw hit the petals but didn't slow or make any attempt to back out, falling through them to smash into the vileplume.

"Return."

Caw was standing upright, but swaying badly, as if drunk. Elliot scarcely noticed this, recalling him by habit.

Erika, as serene as even, approached Elliot and handed him the badge he'd earned.

-

-

Elliot felt somewhat comforted after the gym battle. It was the sort of thing, the way the fights were supposed to be. Competitive and challenging but a game, not something there was any consequence for losing beyond a few dollars and maybe some pride.

He sent out Prowler after he left the city. He had to at some point.

"Hi," Elliot said, feeling awkward. She turned to him and stared wordlessly. "I'm sorry."

She cocked her head inquiringly, not in a talkative mood.

"About when I had you fight the rockets. I'm sorry."

Her expression was one of mild confusion. ((Why?)) she asked.

"Because – because I messed up! You were hurt!" he yelled.

She looked at him. ((Now I am not.))

"But –" Elliot didn't know how to express what he meant. "You could have…"

((Died,)) she finished for him.

Elliot stared at her. His face screwed up. Suddenly he wrapped his arms around Prowler's neck and began to cry.

Prowler shifted her weight uncomfortably, not used to this. She licked his cheek while he sobbed.

After several seconds, Elliot pulled away, wiping at his face away embarrassedly. "I'm sorry," he said again. "If you don't – if you don't want to be my pokemon anymore, I'll let you go."

She had nowhere she wanted to go. ((I am not upset,)) she told him. ((It was no different than any other fight.))

"But you were hurt!"

((It was no different to me,)) she said.


	17. Differences

Butterfree are fun pokemon to battle with. Because of their characteristic raising accuracy, one with supersonic and the status-effecting move of your choice (sleep powder/stun spore) can actually do decently. My Red version butterfree seems to have pretty good luck with supersonic hitting even without a characteristic.

Nope, no point here. Move along.

* * *

Differences

-

"Hey!" yelled a boy. He jumped out onto the path, an action that caused Elliot to flinch slightly. "I challenge you!" He didn't wait for Elliot to agree, immediately throwing out a simple red and white pokeball. It split to release a butterfree.

Elliot pulled off one of his own pokeballs and tossed it. Discord appeared.

"Supersonic!"

"Pound!"

Discord seemed unaffected by the noise. It wasn't much anyway, Elliot thought, just some high-pitched squealing, so perhaps the attack had failed. The jigglypuff jumped up to hit the butterfree with one short, rounded limb; this did more damage than it would seem it should.

The butterfree, looking a bit stunned, beat its wings unsteadily. It lost altitude.

"Pound again!"

"Try supersonic again!"

It produced the same sound. Discord jumped again and punched it.

It fainted.

The boy looked upset. "Oh no, Margarine, return!"

Margarine? Elliot didn't get it.

"You'll pay for that!" the boy yelled. He pulled the other pokeball from his belt. "Go!"

Elliot felt somewhat baffled. For a second or two, he mulled over the situation in his mind. The boy seemed really angry, but he was the one who had made the challenge and –

"Fury attack!"

The beedrill rapidly stabbed at Discord, who dodged somewhat ineptly, trying to avoid being skewered.

"Return, Discord," Elliot said. He pulled off another pokeball without thinking and threw it.

Prowler.

Elliot started to recall her.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" said the other boy. "You can't keep switching pokemon. It's against the rules!"

It really wasn't, but neither knew that.

"I-" Elliot started to say. _I forfeit…_That was all he had to say and he could just walk away from this. "I-"

Prowler examined the insect before her. She was mistrustful of beedrill. She hissed softly, under her breath, judged the distance, the way the three stingers bent, and jumped at its midsection. She bit in deeply, splattering her muzzle with ichor. The beedrill tried to spear her, but its limbs couldn't bend at the right angle. The points of its two stingers cut into her back, and she rolled her body out of the way of the larger third. They crashed to the ground, the beedrill's body cracking further, and then it turned red and vanished.

The boy threw down a handful of money and ran off.

It took Elliot a moment before he could act. Then he bent down and picked up the pieces of paper.

"I'm sorry Prowler," Elliot said. He straightened up but still seemed to have trouble looking at her. Prowler, never a fan of eye contact, didn't pick up on this. "I didn't mean to send you out." He recalled her.

It was wrong, he thought, wrong to send her out after what had happened. She'd nearly been killed. It must been frightening now to fight, knowing that could happen. Elliot remembered walking on an old tree trunk across a large stream when he was younger, back when he was a child, how he'd slipped and nearly fell in. He remembered how terrifying it felt to suddenly realize danger in things you took for granted.

Elliot walked on. He didn't meet anyone else. When the first signs of dusk appeared, he stopped to set up camp.

He released them all, Din for the first time since evolving. The other pokemon, save Prowler, stared, unsure of exactly what the mightyena was.

Howler leaned forward to sniff, only to be startled back by Prowler's growl. She jumped over Discord to land next to Din.

((So it evolved?)) Caw said, looking distrustful. ((That's not right. Something must have gone-))

Prowler snarled, interrupting him. Din had just evolved. To speak of anything wrong, anything strange, anything worrying now could cause it, she knew that. She turned to Din, desiring to get away before the bird could say anything else. ((Come with me,)) she said, nosing Din, and bounded off. Without a look back at the other pokemon or Elliot, Din followed. Caw watched them go.

Elliot noticed them leaving but didn't say anything. Prowler probably wouldn't answer anyway. He set out the food bowls and began to eat himself.

The pokemon finished. Elliot watched them play absentmindedly. "Discord," he said finally. The pokemon looked up. "You're not the same color as other jigglypuff. And you look sorta different too. Why is that?"

The jigglypuff shrugged, a comical motion for something without shoulders. Elliot was distracted for an instant wondering why a pokemon would shrug anyway. ((I don't know.))

"But how can you not know about yourself?"

((Your head is brown. Do you know why that is?))

"But doesn't it mean anything?"

((Why would it?))

Elliot didn't know. It just seemed like it should.

-

-

Prowler and Din returned in the morning, Din walking somewhat gingerly, favoring one leg. As she got closer, Elliot could see a patch of blood in her fur.

"Are you okay, Din?"

((Yes,)) said Prowler. Din didn't speak.

"It looks like she hurt herself."

((She is fine.))

((You shouldn't have gone away. You know better. Pokemon are supposed to stay with their trainers,)) said Caw. ((You know that.))

((Stupid Bird.))

"What happened?"

Prowler looked at Din, who seemed to take that as a cue to speak. ((A purple one bit me.))

"Purple one?"

((Rattata,)) Prowler supplied.

"Come here, I'll give you a potion," Elliot said, nervous at seeing the blood.

((The injury is minor,)) said Prowler. ((It will be gone in a day or so.))

"But-"

((My leg is fine,)) Din said.

If she thought it would be okay, than maybe it was. Elliot resumed packing up his bag, still feeling some misgivings. He wondered suddenly why Din would be injured now, after evolving. When she was younger and a poochyena she had always been unharmed when Prowler brought her back, and wasn't she stronger now? How did she get injured anyway, what were they doing? He recalled the pokemon and started off.

The town he came to was ordinary, perhaps larger than usual. Quiet, peaceful, just like all the others. There was a battle in the square, two trainers who looked ten. Elliot stopped to watch.

The boy on the left's charmander was knocked out. He recalled it unflinchingly and sent out his next pokemon.

"Si-i-i!"

A psyduck had appeared. It ran back and forth rapidly, its hands on the sides of its head. The small group of watchers stared at it in disbelief. It was finally stopped when it tripped at the raised end of one cement paving stone. Its stubby legs waved in the air.

The assembled crowd looked back to the trainer, who turned scarlet.

"I, um, just caught it," he mumbled.

"You didn't even have time to bring it to a Center?" asked the other trainer.

"No…" he said, "I had thought I should train it a bit first." He sighed, recalling the still-flailing psyduck. He picked a new pokeball and released a doduo. The battle resumed.

The battle didn't look very interesting, so Elliot walked on, past the peaceful storefronts, the abundance of restaurants, and into the Pokemon Center.

The place was filled with upbeat trainers, most of them Elliot's age. Just as it always was. Elliot handed his pokemon over and went over to one of the video phones.

He dialed his number, feeling a very faint twinge of guilt and apprehension. He'd only called his mother a few times since he'd left. He didn't stay places that long, and he was always distracted when he was there. It was only during the long walks alone on the empty wilderness between towns that he remembered. And when he didn't call for a time he felt anxious about calling, embarrassed that he'd forgotten, and that made it worse.

And then with everything happening, he'd completely forgotten about it.

For a few seconds as he watched the ringing animation on the screen, he wondered if he could tell her what had happened, about Prowler and the girl's psyduck and the rockets.

His mother answered the phone, and when he saw her smile at him it all melted away. He told her instead about his badges – four in as many months, that was great! she'd replied – and about Din evolving and how he'd found a real nugget of gold, he'd give it to her when he came back, and that he'd seen a huge bird that looked like Articuno. She told him a little about what was happening back home. One of his friends had come back already, dropping out with just a single badge. Hearing about that made Elliot more determined to succeed. He wasn't going to return home after failing! He just couldn't.

Once his call was over, Elliot sat down on one of the couches and waited for the Joy to finish healing his pokemon.

-

-

He left once his pokemon were healed, even though it was mid-afternoon and he only had a few more hours before he'd have to set up camp. He didn't know why, but he no longer felt like dawdling. He wanted to get to Vermillion, and then to the next city, and the next. Maybe it was hearing about someone else dropping out – failing – or perhaps the warning Michael had given him months ago about hurrying was suddenly taking effect. Or perhaps it was just that it all seemed less of a game than it had before. He wasn't content to go slowly, was focused on where he wanted to be rather than where he was.

But no matter how much he wanted to get there fast, he wouldn't – couldn't – keep going when it was dark. Not with what could be…what _was_ there now. He stopped when it was still bright out, released his pokemon, started a fire, saw Prowler and Din leave without looking back.

This time the two returned early, before it had even gotten beyond the fuzziness of twilight. Din looked fine, although somewhat subdued. Prowler nuzzled the mightyena's side once, then walked to Elliot sitting by the fire. She rubbed up against him.

Elliot reached out to pet Prowler's head. He felt something odd, a lesser fluffiness over one patch, and pushed the fur in the opposite direction to see an open patch of skin, slick under his fingertips. A scar?

"What's this?" he asked as she pulled away. She didn't like him touching her head. Didn't really like him petting her at all.

((What?))

"There's a scar on your head. Did you hit it in an accident?

((Did I…)) she repeated. Then: ((No.))

"So how'd you get it?"

((I was…)) Prowler trailed off again. ((It doesn't matter. It will finish healing soon.))

"It looks old," said Elliot, who had little idea of what scars looked like.

((It was not long ago.)) She turned and began to lick her side.

((A fight, with your last trainer?)) said Caw.

Prowler stopped grooming and glared. ((I had no last trainer, Bird.))

((But it was in a fight?))

Blood trickling down her eyes. Cuts on her shoulder stinging. ((No. It was no fight.))

Caw ignored her tense posture. ((But is also wasn't an accident? Liar liar, it was a fight wasn't it? And I bet you lost and that's why-))

((It was no fight!)) she screamed, jumping at him. She tore out a chunk of feathers, Caw managing to break lose a moment before she bit again into now-exposed flesh.

* * *

Short chapter, sorry.

Well, what do you make of it?

Next chapter: More on the psyduck, pokemon meet, and what's up with the food anyway?


	18. Trainers

Sorry about the slower updates, it's just too much for me to get one of these out weekly now. I'm trying to do them every other week, (I'd call it a fortnight, but no one calls anything fortnights anymore) and I'll see if I can speed it up.

* * *

Trainers

-

The Center's normal background chatter faded. Elliot looked up. A man walked up to the counter.

He looked like he was nineteen, with a clear, trustworthy kind of face framed by dark blond hair. There were six pokeballs around his waist.

He handed three to the Nurse Joy. "Could you hurry?" he said, voice undemanding. She nodded nervously and retreated.

The man stayed at the counter, not sitting down. A minute or so passed and the joy reemerged, hands empty. "There's a prob-" He moved one hand down, as if to pluck a fourth pokeball. "P-p-prob-" she stammered, losing her authoritative tone. "There's a-"

"I'd like my pokemon back now," he said calmly.

The Joy stared at him, mute. A moment passed, then she reached into her pocket and handed him three pokeballs.

"Thanks," he said, sounding sincere, and left.

Well, that was odd, Elliot thought. Slowly the noise in the Center returned to its normal volume.

-

-

Din sat on her haunches, watching the others eat, her gray tail wagging. She had the same look seen sometimes on Howler, of barely suppressed energy. She couldn't run around inside the Center but was out until they finished.

Prowler was in the process of wandering off, walking away from the group as she examined everything that caught her eye or nose. One sitting trainer froze in place as the huge persian climbed over him to examine the window behind the couch he was on. Elliot might have said something, but he wasn't watching her.

After a moment Din blurted out, ((Why are you eating?))

Caw looked at her disdainfully, then returned to pecking at his food. Sono paused. Discord answered: ((Because I'm hungry, of course.))

((He let you out earlier?)) Din asked, sounding a bit hurt. ((Why didn't he let me out?)) She looked automatically for Prowler.

((He hasn't let me out since feeding yesterday night. It doesn't look that late, so I don't think he's let out any of us since then.)) Sono said.

((But why are you eating?))

((Because I'm hungry!)) Discord snapped.

((But you can't be,)) Din said, voice puzzled and somewhat subdued by Discord's yelling. ((I never am when he lets me out.))

((That's stupid. Of course you are. We're always hungry when we're let out.))

((You're right,)) Sono said, speaking to Din as if Discord hadn't said anything. ((I'm empty, but I'm not hungry yet. I feel like a while after eating. Like I will be hungry soon. It feels like…about half a day after eating, I think.))

((Why would you go that long without eating?)) said Discord, sounding somewhat shocked.

((Half a day?)) Sono asked.

((Yeah.))

((That's not long at all. I've gone days without eating.))

((Why would you want to do that?)) Discord sounded baffled. ((You'd have to be pretty dumb.))

((Want?)) Sono repeated, fluffing her feathers irritably. ((There wasn't any food.))

((You mean you didn't know where to go?)) Discord asked. ((I thought everybody knew that.))

((What are you talking about?))

((You know. Where they put the food out.))

Sono and Din stared. Even Prowler's attention was momentarily attracted. Caw continued eating.

((The people,)) Discord continued as if it were obvious, noticing their blank looks. ((They'd put out food every day, and when you got hungry you went there. Everybody knows that. What was wrong with you?))

Sono looked to Caw. ((Aren't you going to say anything?))

Caw ruffled his feathers, a denial.

((But you always complain when Prowler's lying,)) Sono said, whining.

Prowler turned back to them, glaring. Sono flattened down against the tile. ((I do not lie,)) she growled softly. The spearow peeped nervously.

((The jigglypuff isn't lying,)) said Caw.

((Is so! There's no such thing!))

((There is in the Safari Zone. Stop arguing. Pokemon in the Safari Zone never have to look for food, that's why he doesn't know what it's like to feel hungry. Now eat your food and be quiet.))

((There is no point in eating, Bird,)) Prowler said, turning her glare to the murkrow. ((It vanishes when he recalls you.))

((He gives us food, we eat. He does not give us food, we do not eat. Be glad you have a trainer who gives food. If you don't eat, you'll regret it in the end.)) Caw returned to pecking at his bowl. Uncertainly, Sono followed suit, not wanting to challenge him. Prowler snorted and padded off. Din looked at the others, then followed Prowler.

Elliot missed the exchange. He was carefully turning the pages of the book he'd found back in Cinnabar. Like the other times he'd tried to look at it, he couldn't make much sense of the pages. He could make out letters and sometimes words, but most of it was too damaged. Even what wasn't burnt was darkened from the heat and smoke, rendering it illegible.

He hadn't been able to figure out what the pokemon was, or who had found it. The pokedex hadn't shown when pokemon were discovered, or by who.

If the place had burned down, Elliot wondered suddenly, what if they had never announced it? He didn't understand how discoveries were announced, so he thought that was possible.

So maybe…he thought, Maybe it's still unknown. Like that white bird I saw.

-

-

Vermillion was a city built by a harbor. For whatever reason, large boats docked there rather than at Fuchsia or Pallet. Elliot didn't really understand why. He only had the most rudimentary sense of geography, and no understanding of how it effected things beyond the simplistic – mountains were harder to travel over than plains. For a city on the one port in all of Kanto, it was strangely small and restrained, although Elliot couldn't recognize this. Thanks to the Gym, Vermillion also had boosted numbers of trainers looking for badges. Today there was also a Trade Convention taking place near, which served to attract more than the normal amount. And yet despite all this – trade, tourism, industry, and trainers – it was still small city, considering. Here, commerce seemed to take a backseat. There was little development, with buildings put up slowly and only when needed, and pollution was minimal. Even compared to cities like Celadon, it was especially wholesome and clean, with the water sparkling and the ground clear of debris.

On the way to the Gym, Elliot passed through one of the open plazas. There was a crowd, as there usually was in cities, watching a pokemon battle. Elliot went over to see as well.

This was a somewhat odd fight, as Elliot found out from his neighbor. In this city, trainers deliberately came to this place to challenge each other, so this wasn't, as he had thought, just an impromptu battle that had attracted an audience. The winning trainers typically remained to keep fighting until either they judged their pokemon too tired to continue – a true rarity, especially in the younger crowd – or they lost. Oftentimes winners lost the next battle. Winning streaks were rare. But the boy in the center had already beaten eleven trainers with a single pokemon.

A more jaded observer might have seen that the boy was inexperienced. It wasn't hard to tell, from his demeanor and speech, that he had only just caught the pokemon and hadn't used it in battle before. It also wasn't hard to tell he was – or had been, anyway, before his ego had got the best of him – surprised by his wins, and that he had only the barest idea of why he was winning.

The challenging pokemon had been unable to damage it. As luck would have it, they were mostly physical attackers, who flung themselves at the magmar and were quickly burnt. The two water pokemon sent out had both been weak, their attacks evaporating without much effect.

The undefeated remain so only temporarily, and this is far truer when such a thing comes from luck rather than skill. A new trainer stepped up. A fourteen year old, with the lean look of a young predator.

With her first pokemon, in her first hit, the undefeated fell, and the rest of his team followed. She though, did not remain to keep fighting. She collected the money, a sizable amount thanks to his former victories, and, ignoring the complaints of the crowd, left.

Perhaps unrelatedly, two boys, one thirteen, the other fifteen, broke away from the crowd when this happened, walking in the same direction. And perhaps unrelatedly, another took off at a run in another direction, perhaps toward the Trade Convention, it was hard to say.

-

-

"But-"

"Not my problem, kid," the guard said, looking bored. "Lt Surge won't be back until tomorrow. You can't fight him now."

Disappointed, Elliot left. Tomorrow! He'd tried to get there as fast as he could and now he had to wait. Why didn't Gym Leaders just stay at their Gyms? First the one at Viridian, and now this. It just wasn't fair.

With time to kill, Elliot headed off to buy more supplies. Once restocked, he purchased a hot dog from the ever-present vendors and began to wander.

Elliot walked past the fringe of a huge mass of trainers, all talking animatedly. He didn't join them. It was the Trade Convention, and he wasn't interested in trading any of his pokemon now. Bits of conversation drifted by.

"Hey!" said a girl somewhere on his right. Her voice was incredibly enthusiastic, even for the circumstances. It was slightly familiar too. Elliot stopped, looking around. "What pokemon do you have?"

A boy's voice responded. "I was hoping to trade my onix," he was saying when Elliot managed to pick him out of the crowd, "but I've also got a wartortle, a magmar –"

"A magmar?" The girl's face lit up. "I've always wanted one of those! Trade it for my quilava?"

"Quilava?" the boy repeated, stunned. "Yeah, definitely."

It was the same girl Elliot had traded Charmer to. He walked on, bothered somehow. It wasn't until he was well away that he figured out why.

She'd said almost the exact same thing to him.

But, Elliot thought, that didn't really mean anything. He kept going, forgetting the incident. He found some other trainers and fought, his wins undependable, relating entirely to which pokemon he used. Howler was about the equal of the trainers his age, Discord and Sono somewhat weaker, Caw far stronger. Elliot noticed this only peripherally, not really understanding. He didn't use Prowler or Din.

Time passed. The sun lowered, the sky darkened, and Elliot headed back to the Pokemon Center.

It was bustling, perhaps three quarters full. Elliot gave his pokemon to the Nurse Joy and sat. Over on Elliot's left, three trainers were talking.

"…practically impossible to get a psyduck," one was saying. "Even if you're got the money to buy one the seller's always out. They can't catch 'em fast enough."

"And they can't be found anywhere anymore. You used to be able to find them north of here, but everybody's combing there without any luck. I heard a supplier is trying to get ones from Seafoam."

"Ugh, good luck! You'd have to be pretty brave to try to steal a bunch of psyduck there. Those golduck are vicious – they'll knock you under the current without a thought!"

"I've heard that one of the suppliers is trying to get a contract to get ones from Johto. They've got loads there. Nobody wants them, not like here. But Johto's supposed to be pretty dangerous – might wind up like Seafoam. If there are golduck around, it's almost impossible to get the psyduck."

"Yeah, and it's not like Johto's interested. I've heard they want to keep everything the same there – don't care about the money, all that matters is that lotsa little psyduck keep running around uncaught because that's how it was a hundred years ago. Like _they'd_ ever agree to mass-exporting them."

"I bet the breeders are making a killing."

* * *

About Sono: Sparrows are mainly plant eaters, and they can't go long without eating. But vultures are meat eaters, and they can go a while without eating. I figure spearow would be somewhere between the two. I'm not actually sure how long Sono would be able to go without eating. It was important for the point I was making, so I put it in. I _think_ it's reasonable, but I could be wrong.

Next chapter: Lt Surge, another persian, some uncertainty about Din's evolution, more uncertainty about Prowler just because it's fun, and, um, popcorn!

And review! Like, dislike? What did you think?


	19. Harsh Undercurrent

We actually don't get to stuff on Din this chapter. Sorry. I should stop making so many promises in the 'next time' part. That should be the first scene of next chapter, though. It's a long chapter, so I hope that makes up for it. And at least it's on time, right?

Keleri – Hello! It does seem possible that the girl is deliberately trying to keep pokemon moving between trainers, but what would be the point of that? Maybe she just likes getting new pokemon. And it doesn't seem like the two pokemon we've seen her trade for had much in common…

Morbane – You made a lot of great points, so instead of listing them all, just thanks! I'll try to keep it all in mind.

Moonrabbit2 – I'm glad you like the characters (although I don't know why it's good he's not a she) and I'm happy you don't find them stereotypical.

Act – Typos? Ugh. I'd ask where but with FFN changing formatting I don't really want to upload changed chapters. I'm glad to hear you like Caw rather than Prowler, and mightyena seem pretty popular with most people.

Say, everyone who hasn't told me, who's your current favorite (or least favorite) and why?

* * *

Harsh Undercurrent

-

The next day, Elliot headed straight for the gym. There was still a guard in front, but he didn't speak as Elliot passed though the double doors.

Inside was a huge room filled with metal cylinders. Elliot walked across it and found a closed metal door. As he was examining it to find a way in, a teen came up behind him.

Without preamble, the other boy threw out a Greatball, releasing a magnamite.

"Huh?"

The other boy sighed. "It's a fight, kid, get moving."

"O-oh," Elliot said, staring at the strange, inorganic pokemon. He knew it was an electric type, based on the gym, but there was something else he couldn't remember.

It was bizarre. It had a huge, single eye that took up most of the 'body', which was a round metal ball, and there were two large magnets at either side that seemed to be attached by some sort of joint. There were also what looked like three screws hanging off its face. How was he supposed to fight something like that?

Elliot pulled out his pokedex. "Magnemite," it reported. "Magnet species. This pokemon is an electric/steel type. It is attracted by electromagnetic waves."

A steel type? Steel was weak against fire, wasn't it? "Howler!"

"Thunderwave," the other boy said instantly. A burst of golden sparks shot at Howler a moment after he appeared, causing him to yelp in pain.

"Ember, quick!"

Howler whined, tremors running through his body, but managed to open his mouth and aim small fireballs at the magnemite. Where they hit, Elliot could see the metal warp. The magnemite was silent but its magnets flailed and it wavered in the air.

"Again, Howler!"

The growlithe repeated the move, and the magnemite sank to the ground, magnets twitching.

The teen recalled it. He didn't offer any money. Instead he said, "In order to open the door, you'll have to find the two green switches. Behind the panel of each cylinder is a switch. If it's glowing green, flip it, and afterward the switch in a cylinder next to it will be green. If you find it on your first try and flip it, the doors will open, and if you pick wrong, you'll have to start over."

"But, um," Elliot started.

"Oh, and if you leave, you forfeit," the other boy added casually, heading off.

It didn't make any sense, but Elliot didn't know what else to do. He started checking cylinders.

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Behind the panels of every cylinder he tried was a switch glowing a disappointing red. After working his way through an entire row without success, he found it.

Elliot flipped the switch and looked around. Which one should he pick? He chose one on his left, walked over to it, took off the sidepanel –

"Ow!" he wailed, yanking his hands back and dropping the panel to the floor with a clatter. He'd gotten shocked. Elliot blinked back tears. It had **hurt**. Was that what happened if he guessed wrong? He picked up the panel and put it back, remembering what the boy had said about starting over, and began to check the cylinders again.

It seemed to take forever. When he finally found the green switch again, he gingerly checked a nearby cylinder-

"Ow!"

His fingertips stung. He looked around for help, but the boy had vanished.

This is stupid, he thought angrily. What does this have to do with whether or not I'm a strong trainer?

He wanted to leave. But he couldn't. That'd be forfeiting, and then he wouldn't get a badge. He started looking again.

It wasn't fair. How was he supposed to tell where the second switch was? All of them were hidden behind the panel, and as soon as he checked, they all reset.

He was shocked a third time.

On the verge of tears, Elliot sat on the floor. It wasn't fair at all, and it hurt! Why did he have to get hurt just to get a stupid badge anyway?

Elliot looked around but there was still no one around that he could ask for help. He didn't want to continue – he'd just be shocked again! – but he couldn't leave. He didn't know what to do.

He had to do this. He checked the cylinder in front of him – red – and started to put the panel back on.

Wait...

Elliot dropped the panel to the floor with a clatter and moved on. He was most of the way through the second row before he found the green switch. When he pressed it, he saw a second one light up in the row behind him.

He reached out to press it but flinched, not wanting to be shocked. After a moment to regain his nerve, he screwed his eyes shut and pressed.

No shock. He could hear the doors open. Elliot opened his eyes and ran through them, in case they closed.

Only to skid to a halt. The man before him could be summed up in the single word imposing. Easily seven feet tall, muscular and wearing a rugged camouflage uniform, he towered over Elliot.

"So," he said, the derisive sneer of his voice making Elliot feel even smaller. "A little runt like you got in?" Lt. Surge laughed, an explosive booming sound. "I suppose you want to fight for a badge?"

Elliot nodded nervously.

"Fine. One on one." A raichu appeared.

Absurdly, the first thing to come to Elliot was the irrelevant fact that this was the first one-on-one fight with a gym leader since his first battle in Cerulean.

Howler was paralyzed. Caw and Sono were flying types. Discord…he rarely thought of it, but he knew Discord wasn't that strong. Din and Prowler…

He couldn't use them. But it'd be okay this time, this was a gym battle.

He'd have to use somebody.

Prowler'd understand if he used her for a gym battle, wouldn't she? This was important. If he won here, he'd get his fifth badge, and he'd be more than halfway to having all eight.

"Go!" Elliot yelled, trying to sound confident. Or anything but the nagging feeling he was doing something wrong.

The ground was hard, flat, rough. Prowler recognized the strange white lines as looking similar to those she'd seen when she fought the magmar. She quickly looked around – was there danger here? – but didn't see any obvious inanimate threat.

The pokemon in front of her wasn't one she'd seen, but from the look and smell she recognized him as being a relative to the yellow pikachu. That told her little but the type, which she could figure out from the warning sparks on his cheeks. She could hear his name as he breathed heavily, charging.

The raichu looked quick, aggressive, but tired, as if he'd fought earlier and had yet to recover. Prowler's ears flattened down and she growled.

She was aware the boy behind her was talking, but that she ignored. The raichu was a strong opponent, and dangerous.

For an instant her thoughts flashed back to Elliot, warn him, get him away because he was frail and slow and the raichu could attack him easily, but she knew the pokemon she met now never bothered with anyone but her. This one looked no different. He was watching her, bracing for her attack. She could tell he was preparing to strike her with electricity.

She spat out a cloud of bubbles and dove to the right. The raichu looked confused. For a moment, she wondered if she'd overestimated him and he was just like the others she'd fought.

Then his cheeks sparked again and he began blasting apart the bubbles. She jumped out of the cloud to tackle him.

"Shock her, now!" Surge ordered.

"Rai…"

The flesh under her paws tingled, then exploded. She ignored the pain, then bit.

It hurt. It hurt. She locked her jaws, grinding her teeth in as deep as she could. She tasted blood, heard the raichu scream. The electricity faded. Painfully she released it and backed up, looking around for any new pokemon.

Lt. Surge recalled the prone raichu. "Not bad, kid. That persian's something else. You train her that way?" Elliot didn't know what to say. Surge laughed again, somehow less harshly. "Didn't think so, from the way she ignored your order. Smart kitty. How'd you get in, anyway?"

"I – I took the panels off," Elliot admitted. It occurred to him now that he'd cheated. Lt. Surge wouldn't give him the badge.

"Good!" boomed Surge. "The last bunch of trainers I fought just kept going around until they got lucky." He tossed Elliot a badge.

"But I-" Elliot started.

"Pokemon training is a fight, kid, not some game. You figure out a way around the rules, run with it. You try to fight by the other guy's rules and you'll lose in the end. Understand?"

"I, um, I-"

"Good."

-

-

Elliot sat down in the restaurant. He ordered pizza. He usually ate that or hamburger when he was in a city. In part it was that he wasn't a very adventurous eater, and in part it was still just that he'd had restrictions on eating it when he was at home.

Surge's pokemon choice was strange, Elliot thought as he sucked Caterpie Cola though a straw. Raichu were kind of pudgy and cute. It wasn't the sort of pokemon you usually associated with giant men in military fatigues. It hadn't done that well in the fight, either.

Elliot opened his pokedex, looking for information on raichu.

_Raichu_ it read, _the mouse pokemon. Its electric shocks can reach up to ten thousand volts. It uses its long tail as a ground to discharge surplus electricity. This pokemon is capable of knocking out a dragonite in a single shot._

Wow. Maybe it was stronger than he'd thought.

Elliot's food showed up promptly, and he didn't continue to wonder about the raichu.

When the waitress showed up to collect the plates, she paused. "Have you been to the park yet?" she asked.

"Park?" Elliot repeated.

"There's a park set up for trainer's pokemon." She pointed. "It's just down that street.

Elliot would have gone there, but he remembered Howler had been paralyzed by the magnemite, and Prowler was probably tired. He headed in the other direction, toward the Pokemon Center.

Pokemon battles seemed perpetual in Vermillion. He saw a small group starting to form around two boys, and stopped to watch as well.

For the more experienced, of which Elliot and anyone else in the crowd was not, the outcome of the battle could be seen just by looking at the two trainers.

One was young, probably ten. He looked desperate. The other was much older, fifteen or sixteen, and he looked bored.

The pokemon on the field was a massive nidoking, who had swept aside each of the four pokemon the boy had tried to use.

Biting his lip, the younger boy tossed his fifth pokeball. A rattata appeared.

The nidoking lunged, not bothering to wait for his trainer's order, which had been the same for the past four. He tackled it easily, knocking it to the side and fainting it.

But something was wrong. The nidoking let out a cry, then fell to the ground, twitched, and stopped moving.

The older boy shouted, running to it. From the crowd, Elliot watched in confusion.

What had happened?

-

-

The crowd had dispersed as though they'd seen something they shouldn't, and not knowing what else to do, Elliot had done the same.

Now, sitting in the Center, he felt badly unsettled, the short burst of happiness from winning a badge completely forgotten. The nidoking…he hoped it'd be okay. But of course it would. Pokemon didn't –

Elliot started to look up at the Nurse Joy and flinched. But the ninetales had been okay. No one had died – pokemon didn't die.

It didn't look like it was breathing. The trainer hadn't recalled it. Gabrielle had said the nidorina –

But it hadn't been hurt. It was fine, maybe it was just tired.

Tired. It was his own thought and even he could tell it was stupid.

It must have been hurt earlier…he remembered Howler. Maybe it'd gotten shocked. That must have been it. Paralysis could do that.

Elliot settled down in his seat, feeling better.

-

-

With his pokemon healed, Elliot headed back in the direction the waitress had pointed. There were two trainers fighting in the same place, neither one the same as before, and there was no sign of the nidoking. Still uneasy, Elliot looked away.

There were two people standing off to the side, a boy Elliot's age and a girl who looked like she might be as old as seventeen.

"But Sis!" the boy was whining.

The strangeness of the phrase made Elliot pause. Was that his sister?

It wasn't as if it was so odd for a trainer to have a sibling. Plenty of people had brothers or sisters. It was just it was…odd for a trainer to have a sibling.

Elliot had never actually considered it; it was just understood. Thinking about it, it was obvious why. Many trainers were only trainers for a year or two, so a lot of the time, the first kid would have gone home before the other started. And even if they were both traveling at the same time for a little while, it wasn't likely they'd meet.

"No! You use Inferno, you think they won't notice?" the girl said, waving her finger in the boy's face. "I didn't raise him to be wasted like that. You pull that and you give him back. Jon can have him."

"Nobody'll notice, I won't show off, I'll just use him."

"Nobody'll notice Inferno?" the girl hissed scornfully. "Don't be stupid, Miguel. You let them see him and you can kiss leaving goodbye. You need at least four badges to even have a chance of getting out, you know that. You wanna be stuck in Kanto? You wanna be a 'lithe trainer?"

"…no."

"Then you listen to me. You use Tammi and Sammi and Sting if you want. Inferno's your protection, not your pet, and don't get that confused. Not unless you like the idea of him walking off when you really need him."

Elliot headed on. Up ahead he could see a sign for the park. He paused at a popcorn vender and bought a bag, then headed inside.

-

-

"Say hello, Prowler," Elliot was saying when she appeared.

Before her was a persian.

She sank to the ground, ears flattening down and fangs displayed. She growled.

((What's wrong with you?)) he said, looking nonchalant.

"Prowler," Elliot scolded. "It hadn't done anything. We're not fighting." She ignored him. He turned to the other trainer apologetically.

The other persian sighed, glancing away quickly to break their staring contest. ((Are you one of their pets? I was hoping we could talk.))

((She talks,)) said Caw. ((Nutty, though. Best to have your conversations elsewhere. You wouldn't believe the garbage she tried to tell us.))

Prowler glanced up. ((Stupid Bird.))

The other persian's ears perked. ((So you can talk! It's been a long time since I met anyone.))

She growled.

((Hey, I'm not going to do anything,)) he said, prancing backward playfully, tail held high as if completely oblivious to her behavior. His posture refused to acknowledge her threat. She watched him suspiciously.

((Hi who are you?)) Din said, running past Prowler.

Prowler snarled, jumping between the two.

She was only inches away. Before she could do anything, the other persian leaned forward and sniffed. She froze in place.

He pulled back, half-closing his eyes politely to again break the staring context. ((My name is Dance,)) he said. ((You're Prowler?))

Din tried to go past. She wanted to see the new pokemon who was like Prowler.

((Go and play with the other pokemon, Din,)) Prowler said, not daring to look back.

((But-))

((Please Din!)) Prowler said, her voice strained.

((Okay,)) the mightyena said, sounding confused.

Dance's head turned, watching the other pokemon run off.

((Please don't hurt her,)) Prowler blurted out.

He looked at her, confused. ((What do you mean? This isn't a fight.)) She was still rigid, holding perfectly still. He flopped down on the ground casually, belly exposed. ((You really should relax. When were you caught?))

((Days ago,)) said Prowler. She wasn't sure of the exact date. She couldn't tell how long it had been outside the pokeball.

((Oh, so he wasn't your first?))

((My first what?))

((Trainer.))

((He is.))

((Oh. Then…?))

((I was on my own.))

((For that long? How'd you manage that?))

She didn't understand what he meant exactly. She was young. ((Where I was, there weren't people. He caught me because I left there.))

((No humans?)) A persian smile. ((Then why'd you leave?))

If you lie fast enough, sometimes you can avoid thinking about the truth. Images swelled on the edges of her thoughts, threatening to break loose. ((I wanted to.))


	20. God

Yay! A new chapter in just one week. With any luck I can get back into my old schedule. Pokemon speech is changing again, to (()), because of my options, that's the only one where the punctuation is still readable.

Charles RocketBoy – Hello again! Answers, well, this story is very slow-paced and I can't seem to speed it up. There are answers, though (I'm not just making it up as I go along, I swear!). I'm intending to have Elliot meet up with someone in Lavender who'll know stuff and give more explanation, but that's two or so chapters off now. This chapter gives a sort-of answer to two things. (But beware taking it at face value…)

Pika-Zukin – Your favorite's Din? That's great! I've gotten several comments about people liking mightyena in general, but most people seem to either like Caw or Prowler (probably because they get more time). As to Discord and Prowler, well, you might be surprised…

Keleri – We actually will end up meeting Inferno, so you should find out what it is in a couple of chapters (Everything takes long, I'm afraid…).

* * *

God

-

Prowler had segregated herself off in a corner of the park. She was talking with a younger charizard, looking, for once, as if she was with a friend.

The others took this chance to talk with Din. Prowler normally kept close watch on Din, discouraging the other pokemon even with snaps and growls sometimes. But now she was distracted.

Probably, judging by her familiar attitude, thought Caw, the charizard was someone she'd met a while back. Pokemon kept for long periods of time would often wind up making friends with other pokemon they wouldn't see again for months or years.

((So, when did you evolve?)) Sono asked Din. Evolved pokemon were rare enough to be semi-legendary. Her parents had told her of fearow; she had never seen her own evolved form herself.

((At the night battle,)) Din said uncertainly. Evolution had abruptly given her the intellect needed for speech, but she lacked the necessary practice to communicate properly. ((The one with the two humans.))

The other pokemon had been used then, so they remembered it, and the two things she spoke of distinguished it from other fights. There had not been other battles at night or with two trainers. Neither Sono nor Discord knew it had not been a normal fight.

Caw did, but took such things in stride. ((It shouldn't have evolved,)) he said, not talking to Din. ((Pokemon shouldn't evolve before they can talk. Not without training, and that one wasn't used.)) He began to preen his feathers. ((It's strange. Our trainer should get rid of-))

Prowler's ears had picked up the last of this and she'd pounced. Caw managed to get off the ground in time. ((Stupid Bird,)) she called from below, sounding oddly angry.

((You know there's something wrong.))

She did. That was why she took it so poorly. If she hadn't had her own lingering doubts, she wouldn't have minded talk of it, not by this point, with enough time passed since Din's evolution. But she did think something was wrong, and so felt compelled to prevent anyone from speaking of it, calling it into being permanently.

Her wrong, though, was the opposite of Caw's. ((Stupid Bird,)) she growled, walking toward Din and rubbing against her reassuringly. Prowler had begun to feel anxious even before Din's evolution. The puppy had walked, pounced, even begun to speak, yet hadn't evolved. Caw knew pokemon didn't evolve before they spoke, and with equal surety Prowler knew they did. The delayed evolution was still worrying her.

She had other reasons to be worried. Din was still slow and weak. She had brought the mightyena out to hunt, but Din could barely kill a rattata. Din was stronger than she had been as a poochyena, but weak still, strangely weak. Prowler tried to push the doubts out of her mind, afraid of creating them or giving them substance.

She stalked back to the charizard, this time keeping a closer watch. Din wound up playing with a group of growlithe – they were common pets, and so, common pokemon of trainers. Howler was elsewhere, having been encouraged to play with others by Prowler's snarling and feinted bites.

-

-

The charizard's trainer recalled her and left. Prowler returned to the group grudgingly. They were all staying nearby for whatever reason, perhaps just mild nervousness at leaving their somewhat-family.

((See anyone else you know?)) Caw asked.

((Why would I know anyone, Bird?))

((You knew the charizard. Besides, you're obviously an older pokemon. I'd imagine you must recognize a few here.))

((Old,)) Prowler repeated. ((Stupid bird. I'm not old. This is my second year. And I've never met any of them.))

((Meowth aren't fast evolvers. Even trained, I doubt you could evolve in a year. You've older than that. Why do you keep telling stories when it's so obvious they aren't true?))

((Stupid Bird,)) Prowler said. ((You don't have a story. How would you know what's true?)) She growled at Howler, who had gotten too close, and walked away again, to bask on an especially sunny patch of grass.

Minutes passed. Abruptly, Caw spoke again. ((Your scar…)) he said, ((when did you get it?))

((Days…)) Prowler paused and thought. ((There were two nights without the moon before he caught me.))

((And that was when you'd left?))

((Yes,)) Prowler said flatly, fur beginning to puff. Her claws flexed.

((So that's it, then,)) Caw said, sounding almost sympathetic. ((No wonder what you say makes no sense.)) Prowler growled at the insult, but he continued blithely, ((Head injuries can cause delusions sometimes. It's like a dream, a bunch of scattered ideas that your waking mind tried to tie together. Being with a group of pokemon, those became siblings. Lying by the fire with a trainer became a persian who could make flames from its claws. You've-))

Prowler roared and jumped him. Caw, wrapped up in his own ideas, wasn't prepared but had distance on his side. One paw clipped the edge of his wing but he managed to get aloft.

((I'm right. Think about it,)) Caw said, landing on a branch.

He didn't expect what came next. Prowler lunged, clawing her way up the tree in seconds and was on the branch. Caw nearly fell trying to get away in time. She snarled from the branch and then jumped again into the air heedlessly, struck him with her claws–

Only to turn bright red and vanish into an Ultraball.

Elliot's face was the same color. "They, um, fight sometimes," he mumbled to the other trainers who were staring, shocked at how poorly behaved his pokemon were, before quickly making his escape.

-

-

Prowler's walk was slightly hesitant. Occasionally she would prod the ground with a forepaw, as if she expected it to change into air at her touch, before putting her weight into the next step. It was more noticeable than usual because she was walking slowly, keeping pace with Elliot.

Sono, from her perch on Elliot's shoulder, watched this with an expression of superiority. ((What do you think you're doing?)) she asked at last. ((The ground's fine.))

((Holes,)) said Prowler. ((The grass is too thick. I can't see where the ground's uneven.))

((Too thick?)) Sono repeated.

((Yes.))

The bird cocked her head to one side. ((That's what grass is supposed to be like,)) she said.

Prowler made a derisive growl.

"Sono's right," Elliot said. "Grass is supposed to look like that. I know because Mom would make me water the lawn if it didn't."

((What gives it water here?)) Prowler said.

"Huh?"

((If the grass looks like it does when it has water, where does the water come from? And why is it so short if it has so much water?))

Elliot had never thought of that.

Sono laughed. ((Don't you know anything? The forest god does that.))

"The forest god?"

((The forest god watches over the forest and makes sure everything grows properly.)) Sono said. ((I think it does other things too but I don't know.))

Like most children, Elliot had heard the stories of legendary pokemon. "You mean Celebi?"

((Celebi? What's that?))

((The guardian of time,)) Prowler said. ((Didn't your parents teach you anything?))

((They didn't tell me that story. I only heard the story of the Sky Three before I was caught.))

((But _your_ forest god isn't a story?))

Sono didn't notice the tone. ((Of course. There's one in every forest. I saw ours once.))

Prowler made the same scornful sound she'd made earlier.

((Maybe that's why where you lived was so barren,)) continued Sono. ((Your god must have died. I wonder why no one brought a new one.))

-

-

Elliot took a break from walking, resting in a clearing. He'd recalled Sono and Prowler earlier. He wanted to catch more pokemon, and having a persian stalking next to him wasn't helping. Now that he'd stopped, he let out Din and Howler so they could have some fresh air.

Now Din was racing around, barking happily, as was Howler, although not together.

It was an almost idyllic scene. Elliot felt calm, relaxed. He hadn't realized it, but he'd felt anxious earlier and had been for a while. He sighed, staring up at the blue sky.

Din yelped. Elliot jumped to his feet just in time to see the mightyena enveloped in vines and pulled down into the underbrush, vanishing. He recalled Howler and raced over to the spot.

A tangle of bellsprout were there, staring solemnly up at him. The surrealness of the scene got to him and he giggled almost hysterically for a moment. They were bellsprout. Sort of funny looking weird pokemon. They weren't supposed to attack his pokemon and make it vanish into thin air, or look so serious and alien. They waved in the breeze, almost hypnotically, so uniform they seemed like they were all just one single creature. Elliot didn't speak for a moment, just staring. Then shock gave way to anger. They had attacked Din, done something.

"Where's Din?" Elliot shouted. "Where's my pokemon?" The bellsprout swayed and wobbled, seemingly immune to his anger.

((It was strange,)) they said, speaking at once, giving their voices an eerie echo as the words repeated. ((It was strange it was strange.)) The words became softer, like a fading breeze rustling through leaves, until there was silence.

"Where is she? What did you do with her?"

((We were told,)) the bellsprout said. ((We were told we were told we were told.))

"Told what?"

((Told to bring it told to bring it told to bring it.))

"Where!" Elliot said, growing frantic.

((To the god.))

((To the god to the god to the god.))

"And where's that?"

((Hidden. Hidden hidden hidden hidden.))

He had to find Din. "I brought Din," Elliot said recklessly. "I brought what was strange. Aren't I strange then? Won't the god want me too?"

The bellsprout murmured inaudibly. Elliot thought he'd failed, but suddenly vines wrapped around him. He shouted in surprise as they began to carry – or perhaps toss – him deeper into the forest. He was moving fast, with leaves and twigs obscuring his vision.

And then suddenly everything stopped. Gingerly, he picked himself up. The grass was thick and spongy, cushioning his fall painlessly. There was light, but no sky – he was inside a cave, illuminated from some unseen source.

Plants were everywhere. Flowers of varying sizes and colors covered the ground, filling the air with a cloyingly sweet scent. There were huge, glossy green leaves over every inch of the walls.

In the center was a huge blossom, far bigger than Elliot. The petals reached almost back to the ground.

The flower petals moved. Underneath them, a gnarled lump with two eyes became visible.

A venusaur.

Elliot walked closer. He saw that the venusaur's vines were extended, slipping between the flowers on the ground and out of sight. It stared at him.

"Where's Din?" Elliot asked.

Slowly, the huge mouth opened. In a voice like an echo from the center of a treetrunk, it spoke.

((Does it belong to you?)) it asked slowly.

"Yes."

Leaves retreated from a corner. Underneath Elliot could see Din, unconscious and tangled in vines.

"Why did you do this?"

((My apologies. I did not know it was owned. I have been shown more than two hundred pokemon, and this one was not one of them. I have been told to take those who are new. Tell me, is this one new?))

"No, she's Hoenn. From Hoenn."

((Ah…Hoenn. I have never seen those from Hoenn.))

"Who told you to catch new pokemon? Why?))

((I do not know why.))

"Who, then?"

((The ones who put me here. Like you.))

Elliot didn't say anything.

((You must leave now,)) the behemoth said. ((I am not supposed to let you in. Now that we have resolved the problem, it is best that you leave.))

Elliot nodded silently, still somewhat stunned by what he had learned. Vines began to shift, opening a hole. He walked toward it, then turned. "You're the forest god?" he asked.

((Of course.))


	21. Fights, Confidence, Rumor

Well, so much for managing to update weekly. For some reason, the teachers thought it was a good idea to assign two projects on the same week as the PSATs…evil.

Anyway, thanks for all the reviews! Act and Keleri, glad to hear you like it; ontherundetective, I'm afraid there won't be a last chapter posted for a while.

Morbane, more good points, thanks, I'll try to keep it all in mind. Also, the poster was a bounty-poster, not a 'lost pet' sort of thing. What Prowler said about rules was sort of badly worded, and she wasn't talking about anything official. I've changed it because it really is a bad way to put it. Oh, and unfortunately FFN ate my formatting for pokemon speech in earlier chapters, so Prowler wasn't actually saying that about the jigglypuff out loud. I've fixed that.

The title – well, you might be able to figure it out if you try to change the words into synonyms, but the phrase probably won't mean anything much to you, and it won't make sense yet.

* * *

Fights, Confidence, Rumor

-

Elliot walked, lost in thought. He still didn't really know what had happened. Din had been pushed out of the – whatever that place was, Elliot didn't know – and had woken up seconds later, as energetic and happy as she had been earlier. She didn't seem to remember anything that had happened. He hadn't let out any of his pokemon after that, just headed toward Saffron.

He hadn't seen any bellsprout since he'd left, either. Not that he'd looked closely – he'd kept his eyes on the ground right in front of them, abandoning his earlier thoughts about catching more pokemon. He'd camped when it got dark; even the idea of things lurking in wait in every patch of grass wasn't as frightening as the one image of the raticate dripping blood like a monster. But he'd also gotten up early and headed on early, not long after the first light of the day. He wanted to get to Saffron, to have ground made up of asphalt and concrete instead of deceptive grass, to have streetlights and lamps at night. He hurried.

-

-

Elliot met a trainer less than an hour's walk to the city, a boy about eleven years old but with a somehow predatory look to him.

"Six on six?" the boy asked.

That would mean he'd have to use Prowler and Din. He couldn't do that. But he'd been challenged. He couldn't back away from a challenge. And he couldn't change the rules, couldn't say, no, three on three, because no one ever did that.

"Okay," he said, and his voice sounded strange, as if he hadn't spoken but someone else for him. He picked a pokeball, feeling detached, as if he wasn't the one doing it.

Howler appeared. The other boy tossed out his first pokemon too, a pidgeotto. The battle began.

Soon, Howler, Discord, Sono, and even Caw had fainted. The boy still had two pokemon left himself.

Elliot sent out Din.

The boy's poliwrath was battered from fighting with Caw, but was still capable of battling. Din tried, but before long was knocked out. And then there was only Prowler. The poliwrath, by then exhausted, went down without a struggle. The boy sent out his last pokemon, a wigglytuff.

Prowler's eyes widened. She had never seen one, but she could see and smell the resemblance. She lunged before either trainer could speak, digging all four sets of her claws into his soft body and tearing at him with her teeth.

The boy recalled his pokemon seconds later, unaware of her intent but able to see the wigglytuff couldn't win.

Elliot retrieved his money and walked to Prowler as the other boy, looking more angry than might be expected, left.

"I'm sorry," Elliot told her. He'd sworn he wouldn't use her after getting the Thunderbadge. He felt horrible. It wasn't fair to ask her to do this. "You shouldn't have to fight."

((What do you mean?)) asked Prowler.

"After what happened. You must be scared-"

((I'm not scared,)) Prowler said, sounding somewhat insulted. ((What would I be scared of?))

"Of getting hurt. Or killed."

((Why would I be scared of that?)) Prowler asked. ((That is how things are. I'm not a coward.))

"You're not…"

((I am not afraid of fighting. If I did not want to fight, I would not fight,)) said Prowler firmly.

"And Din?"

Prowler considered. ((Din is not strong, so, do not use her unless you are certain the other one is weak.)) The persian began washing her face, tired of the conversation.

-

-

Saffron was called the golden city of commerce, and it lived up to its name. It wasn't dark, but already the yellow glow of electric lights was there, fighting with the whiter sunlight. Stores were everywhere, packed close together and several stories high. Elliot had already gaped and stared when he'd first come there with Michael, so this time he managed to be less awestruck by the magnitude and urbanness of the place.

Of course, that time he hadn't also done much exploring. Elliot set off.

The center of Saffron was the Silph Co. building. Twelve stories high, with rows of gleaming windows, it was an impressive skyscraper, visible and almost beckoning in the distance. Inside scientists created all sorts of things, pokeballs, items, and even the first ever man-made pokemon, porygon.

Up close, unfortunately, while it looked even more mysterious and interesting, it was impossible to enter. Elliot could see the doors were guarded by a pair of black-garbed men. Although Elliot could still have tried to approach and see if they'd let him in, their dark uniforms reminded him a bit of rockets, and, unsettled by the reminder, he headed on to the Pokemon Center.

-

-

Elliot gave the Joy his pokemon, and headed over to the videophones. He dialed home and talked to his mother, who mentioned another of his friends had come home. "You should call him and say hello," she told him.

After they said goodbye, Elliot did so.

Anthony appeared on the screen. "Oh, hey Elliot."

"Hi Anthony," Elliot said, not sure what to talk about. Did he mention what had happened on his journey or would that be bad, now that Anthony had dropped out?

"Your mom said you'd gotten half the badges," Anthony said, answering his question.

"Five," Elliot said proudly. "And I just got to Saffron."

"Cool. You think you might get them all before the end of the year? Think you'll finish in time for the League?"

"Yeah! Hey, did you-" Elliot broke off, feeling awkward again, but his friend didn't seem to mind.

"I got the Boulderbadge, but while I was going through Mt Moon, I decided, that well," he said, "I really didn't want to be a trainer," he finished in a rush. "I mean, I was there in a cold, dark, damp cave chasing around the clefairy I'd promised Tina. I didn't – I don't really care if my squirtle evolves and I'd rather be at home than out in the middle of the night trying to catch some special pokemon. I like pokemon and all, but running around in the wild, I'd rather have a dry bed." He grinned suddenly. "You were always happy to spend the day in the middle of the forest, so I guess it makes sense you'd be able to keep going without a care."

"Y-yeah," Elliot said.

"Anthony!" called a woman's voice from off-screen.

"One sec, Mom!" he yelled back. He turned back to Elliot. "One thing. I do regret not getting a ghost type like I wanted. If you pass by Lavender, catch me one, kay?"

"Sure," Elliot said. "Bye."

"Bye." The screen went black.

-

-

The Dojo was located at the northern edge of Saffron, not far from Sabrina's gym. Irrationally, its unofficial status made Elliot assume it would be tough rather than weak. He headed inside.

The place was full of musclebound trainers and even more muscular pokemon, all working on equipment. Almost all of them were punching or kicking huge bags hanging from the ceiling. They paused when Elliot entered. "Hey, another challenger," one said, sounding scornful. They stared at him, not looking too impressed. A man approached from the back.

"A scrawny little thing like you? Well, I can't refuse a challenge." He laughed contemptuously. "You know the rules." Elliot didn't. "We'll fight one on one. You give an order to your pokemon, you forfeit."

An order? But then how was he supposed to fight? Elliot regretted coming there. There wasn't even any point, it wasn't like he was going to get a badge for this. But he couldn't back out.

Well…Elliot thought, flying was good against fighting types, and…Caw, Caw was pretty strong. Elliot tossed his pokeball.

Caw turned his head from side to side, looking around the place and waiting for an order. The released hitmonlee kicked him across the room.

"Caw, I can't give you orders," Elliot yelled. "You have to fight yourself!"

Caw, still on the ground, sending a small, controlled gust at the hitmonlee, careful not to hit the surrounding humans or equipment. The hitmonlee blocked with his puny arms, then ran forward, attacking with a volley of quick kicks. Caw seemed unable to get out of the way. The hitminlee bounced backward, and then, seeing his opponent looked stunned, charged forward for a high jump kick attack.

At the last instant Caw flew upward. The hitmonlee crashed into the equipment and stayed there, tangled and unconscious, one leg bent awkwardly.

"Here," the man said, sounding annoyed. He didn't bother to recall his pokemon. He tossed something to Elliot. "A focus band, your prize."

Elliot caught it, recalled Caw, and left.

That hadn't been as hard as he'd thought. He headed toward the northeast corner of the city, toward psychic gym rather than back to the Center. If he was such a good trainer that he could win at the first gym so quickly, he'd probably be able to win at the official one pretty easily too.

Although, Elliot thought, he'd heard some strange stuff about this gym. He'd fought psychic pokemon before, and they'd seemed pretty similar to all the other kinds. But there were all sorts of weird rumors going around, and Michael had warned him about Sabrina, he remembered, although there hadn't been any explanation.

Elliot flipped through the 'dex. It didn't say anything particularly scary about the psychic type. It advised him that he should use physical attacks, unless the pokemon were strong enough to create barriers, at which point he shouldn't. It didn't mention any way of telling the difference, so the advice was pretty useless. Pokedexes really weren't expected to give useful battling information, so he figured he should have known better than to have tried asking. He shut it with a click.

Still, he was a good trainer. He'd just beaten one gym leader, so he didn't have anything to worry about. He kept going.

The gym's appearance made him pause. It was huge, and more of his confidence drained away. He took a deep breath and pushed the front double doors open.

He saw a hallway, a bit shadowy and red-colored. Nervously, he started walking in, looking around.

"I presume you're looking for a badge?"

Elliot almost yelled, stumbling back in surprise. He hadn't seen the man approach. He collected himself and nodded.

"Follow me." The man walked off, at a pace that made Elliot have to run a few steps to keep up. They came to a set of elaborately carved, ornate doors. The archaic designs made Elliot feel uneasy. The man pushed them open without a pause.

"A challenger," he called into the room. Another man stepped forward, and the first left.

He looked at Elliot in mild annoyance. "Sabrina has been drafted into some pointless investigation in Cerulean, so I am the one who will fight you. The battle will be three on three. Any questions?"

Elliot shook his head.

The man threw out a pokeball, releasing an abra.

That didn't look too intimidating, and Prowler had said it was okay to use Din now. "Go!"

Din formed. She looked around, seeing she was in a battle again, and wagged her tail happily. She hadn't understood why he'd been using her so rarely, and had wondered if he was upset with her.

"Okay, try tackle," Elliot said, remembering what the pokedex had said. It was worth a try.

She charged, and the abra teleported away. Din looked around, confused.

"Psychic."

The abra glowed, but nothing happened.

"So it is a dark type," the man said, not sounding particularly surprised. "It'll take more than a type advantage to win, though."

"Bite!" Elliot ordered.

The other pokemon teleported away, and Din's teeth closed on air.

"Dynamicpunch."

One of the abra's fists glowed, and Din jumped out of the way. The abra hit the floor of the gym, causing it to crack.

"Thunderpunch."

Electricity crackled around its other arm. This one connected, and Din yelped. She snapped at it, but it vanished again.

What should he…"Faint attack, Din!"

This time, Din vanished. She reappeared as she hit the abra, then grabbed it in her teeth. She shook it from side to side until it went limp. The man recalled it.

"Girafarig," the man said, tossing out a Greatball. "Stomp."

The appearing pokemon ran forward and then reared up. Din slunk down, dodging the hooves as they crashed down, and ran to the side, barking madly. She feinted a lunge. The girafarig reared slightly, backing up. Din tried to circle around and was kicked squarely in her side by the girafarig's back legs. She was knocked backward and crumbled to the ground.

"Return," Elliot said. Who should he use next? Not Discord, he still wasn't that strong. Caw was his other dark type, but shouldn't he save his strongest for last? Howler…but the pokedex had said it was a good idea to use physical attacks if the pokemon couldn't make a barrier, and this one hadn't. Sono wasn't good against big things. He remembered her quick loss to the tauros. Prowler, definitely.

He throw the Ultraball. "Be careful, it's psychic," he warned.

Prowler mumbled something that might have been either 'so?' or 'I know'. Elliot figured it wasn't really important which.

The persian hissed, seeming to grow in size, her shoulders hunched up in preparation of a jump. The girafarig backed up stiffly. She let out a roar and the girafarig turned, starting to run. She leapt, landing on its back and biting into its neck. Blood spurted around her jaws.

The girafarig vanished almost immediately and Prowler fell through and landed on the ground.

The man threw his third pokeball. "Hypno."

Prowler waited, not recognizing it.

"Hypnosis."

Prowler yowled, running to the side as the hypno started the attack. Without her looking at it, the move failed.

"Psychic."

She smashed into the wall. She stood back up, started to run at it.

"Again."

There was a snapping sound. She stood again, much more slowly.

"Again."

She didn't get back up. Elliot recalled her. Now Caw.

"Headbutt!" the man ordered. Now he seemed a bit more anxious.

"Fly, Caw!"

Caw beat his bruised wings and managed to get out of the way just in time. He added in sharp peck as the hypno barreled past, and the pokemon tottered and nearly tripped. Caw flew up higher, gaining the altitude needed.

"Now!"

"Thunderpunch!"

Caw dove. The hypno punched him, but he hit as well. Hidden by the electricity, one wing turned silver. He swiped it across the hypno's face, making a thin, light cut. A line of red blood beaded on it.

The murkrow shuddered, paralyzed, and crashed. He quivered on the ground, then managed to get back to his feet.

"Return, Hypno," the man said.

Elliot had won.

-

-

He headed back to the Pokemon Center and handed his pokemon over to the Nurse Joy. He took a seat and waited, looking through his pokedex but not paying much attention.

"…in Lavander," someone nearby said. "You still think you should go?"

"Doesn't matter," another trainer said. "Some rumor about Team Rocket's not going to make me do anything different. Aren't you a little old to believe in the boogieman?"

"Hey, I saw them!" said a third kid angrily. "They're real."

"Oh, come on. You expect me to believe there's a bunch of guys running around attacking _strong_ trainers? They'd get their butts handed to them," the second speaker said.

Then another voice cut through the conversation.

"Thank you!" a boy a bit older than Elliot was saying ecstatically at the counter. "Thank you thank you!" He took the pokeball she held out, grinning happily.

"You may want to avoid battling with it for a few days," said the Joy.

The boy nodded in what might have been agreement and ran out of the Pokecenter excitedly.

* * *

Next chapter: Elliot has a sister. There's some strife. Does Caw really know what he's talking about? 


	22. Kitten

Not a very balanced chapter this time, and it's pretty short too. Sorry. So we're having it in the middle of the week and with any luck I'll have another chapter up at the usual time. Next chapter's normal, I promise!

* * *

Kitten

-

At the Pokecenter the next morning, Elliot wanted to put off leaving. He felt nervous about going back out into the wilderness, but also, his next destination…he just didn't know.

He called his mother, who looked pleased to talk to him two days in a row. "I'm glad you called," she said. "Your sister's finally home." A six year old girl's head popped up from the bottom of the screen.

"Hey-hi!" she said, holding up a pokeball. "And lookit!"

Elliot's sister had been gone for months. She'd left a little while after him for an extended trip down in the islands with her classmates. It hadn't been meant to last so long – Elliot's mother hadn't been very forthcoming with the details, but there'd been some sort of delay. She hadn't seemed worried, so Elliot had thought it was okay.

"Hi Merci," he said. "What's that?"

"Secret." She stuck her tongue out at him.

Their mother laughed and put her hand on the top of Merci's head. "She found an abandoned meowth kitten by the market, and we –"

"Nawme!"

"– well, I was wondering if you could take it. I don't know anything about meowth, I like growlithe better, and you're a trainer now."

"Sure," Elliot said.

Merci's face loomed over the screen. "Take good care of him or else I'll HATE YOU!" She burst into giggles and dropped out of sight.

-

-

"Okay, guys, we have somebody new my sister got. We'll be taking care of it for a while."

The six looked at him. He opened the pokeball – it had pink unicorn stickers on it he'd need to remove, he noticed – and out came a tiny, fuzzy kitten, hunched down to take up the tiniest possible space.

Prowler stiffened.

The others looked at it in interest.

Fur started to stand. Her ears tilted.

Din leaned forward to sniff.

Prowler growled.

Everything stopped. Din froze. The kitten managed somehow to pull even tighter into itself and flatten down until it seemed to be merged with the ground.

"Prowler, what's wrong? I thought you'd like a kitten." Prowler hissed at him viciously. Elliot flinched.

((Persian don't adopt the young of othe-)) Caw's knowing voice was cut off by a swipe he should have expected but didn't. He was sent tumbling. Prowler's gaze returned to the kitten, the other pokemon shuffling nervously out of her glare.

"I don't understand, Prowler," Elliot said unhappily.

She turned sharply back to him again. ((Where did you get this? This shouldn't be here. Put him back.))

"My sister got him. He was abandoned." Elliot didn't know what was wrong. "I thought you'd like a kitten," he said again. "I didn't mean to make you mad."

((Put that back.))

"I can't. I told you, he's abandoned. My sister found him."

((That can't be here.))

"Why not?"

((That can't.))

((Persian won't tolerate other meowth or persian,)) Caw said from a good distance away. ((They drive off or kill any others in their territory.))

Prowler whirled and screeched. Startled, Caw's wings froze up and he dropped low enough for her to pounce. He turned red and she fell through him. Snarling, her eyes followed the retreating light back to Elliot and she ran at him. He recalled her as well.

After a moment, he recalled the others and walked over to the kitten, who was still holding perfectly still, eyes closed. Elliot picked him up. As the kitten was separated from the ground he curled, making his body into a disk shape. His tail wrapped around his face.

"It's okay," Elliot told the kitten. "She gets mad sometimes but it's okay. She'll calm down and then you'll have a mommy again."

The kitten showed no sign of uncurling.

-

-

"Look," Elliot was saying as Prowler formed. He was kneeling in front of her, holding the kitten out under her nose.

Prowler bit.

"Ow!" Elliot wailed, dropping the kitten and cradling his hand. "Prowler, what's wrong? You liked Din."

((Put him back!)) she screamed.

"I can't. We have to keep him."

This time she seemed to understand. She turned away and walked off.

"Prowler!" Elliot yelled. "He needs to be taken care of. He's just a baby. What if he gets sick and dies?"

((That would be better,)) Prowler said, facing away. She was lying with her paws tucked under her and her tail wrapped against her side.

"That's a horrible thing to say!"

She ignored him.

Elliot picked up the kitten again and dropped him against her. "Make friends," he ordered. "Stop being mean."

Prowler stiffened, pulling her check back so she wasn't touching, then turned her head to one side and stared off as if the kitten wasn't there.

Elliot sighed and went off to gather wood.

Minutes passed. The kitten uncurled an infinitesimal amount and mewed timidly.

Prowler hissed, ears flat. The kitten recurled.

When Elliot returned, the kitten was cowering where he'd been left, and Prowler was off on the other side of the clearing.

"Come on, Prowler, what's wrong? You liked Din."

((Male.))

"Huh?"

((That is male.))

"So?"

((That will die anyway.))

"Why?"

((Because that is male.))

"I'm a boy."

Prowler didn't respond.

"I'm a boy and I'm not going to die."

((You won't have claws!)) Prowler screamed. Elliot flinched.

"He's just a baby meowth," Elliot said after a moment. He picked him up again and offered her the kitten. "Look at how scared he is."

Prowler turned her head away.

"Is this about what Caw said?"

Prowler snarled, jumping to her feet, one paw raised. She stopped the swipe at the last moment.

"Please tell me what's wrong," Elliot said pathetically. "The kitten wants to be your friend. He's scared and lonely." He held the meowth out.

Prowler wouldn't look at him. She stared off into the distance as if the kitten didn't exist.

Elliot set the kitten down by her and left the clearing.

It was getting late and cold. The kitten began to tremble. He mewed pitiably.

-

-

Caw was the only one who noticed anything wrong. Elliot was happy Prowler was being nice finally, holding the kitten between her paws and licking it. The kitten was purring loudly, trying to make up for the lack of returning sound. Caw saw the persian's absent look and how disinterested and mechanical her licking was.

Din was off to the side, cowering and depressed. Prowler had growled at her when she'd tried to approach. None of the others were paying attention.

The next morning, before the dawn's mist had faded, Prowler stood and walked to Elliot. She fished the still sticker-covered pokeball out of his bag, picked it up, and pressed it against the kitten. Then she picked the pokeball up in her mouth and walked away.

Caw's eyes opened. Silently, he took flight.

Elliot woke up to screams and crashing sounds. He pulled himself out of his sleeping back and ran barefoot to toward the noise.

Prowler was on the ground. She'd apparently been interrupted in the process of digging a hole. Caw was circling above. Some black feathers lay on the ground.

As Elliot watched, she glanced down and pulled up more dirt, only to be interrupted as Caw dove. She slashed at him, opening new gashes and knocking out another feather.

((You have no right, Bird!)) she screamed.

"Prowler, Caw, what…"

((The persian was digging a grave.))

"What?"

((The persian was digging a hole to bury the pokeball.))

Elliot stared, noticing the ball on the ground underneath Prowler. She was standing over it to prevent Caw from swooping down and grabbing it. As he watched, she shot a glance at the murkrow and started digging again.

"You killed…" Elliot whispered, horrified.

Prowler turned to him. She looked maddened. ((I have to!))

((I tried to tell you,)) Caw said. ((Persian don't-))

((Carrion eater, kinless! Your mothers eat their own eggs!)) Prowler screeched. ((Abandoner and betrayer! You have no right!))

((The small meowth is his. You can't take his property,)) Caw said. ((You can't steal from your owner.))

"Prowler, why?"

((Because he is small and weak and he will die!))

"He's not going to die."

((Then he will suffer and kill.)) Prowler turned away, pulling up more dirt and deepening the hole. Caw flew at her and she swatted him into a tree. Painfully, he flew back up into the air.

"Give him to me," Elliot said, holding on his hand. "I'll get rid of him. Okay?"

Prowler didn't do anything for several moments. But then she picked up the pokeball in her mouth and brought it to him.

-

-

"Hi Mom…yeah, about that…no, no, nothing like that. But I can't – yeah, I can't keep him…no, actually. My persian got really upset…no, I don't _think_ she was jealous…she was really upset…no, not like that, she kept saying he was going to die and to bring him back…no, he's fine, I asked the Nurse and she said there wasn't anything wrong. But she said, and my murkrow kept saying this too, that persian don't get along with other cats and won't adopt kittens…I know, I don't understand why she likes Din. Maybe because they're different species. I don't know. So I've really got to give him back, sorry…no, really, my persian was _really_ upset. She tried to bury the pokeball while I was asleep…yeah. But the Nurse Joy said Merci'd probably be able to take care of him, meowth are easier than growlithe…yeah, you can ask the Nurse Joy there…I know…sorry again…yeah, bye."


	23. Appearances

Hi everyone!

Keleri – I felt so bad for the kitten when I wrote the chapter too. I've had kittens like that…if I decide I need another baby pokemon, I'm definitely going with something I don't like so much next. Like igglybuff.

Morbane – Well, it's not balanced because it's mainly about Prowler, and really, too much of this is already about Prowler. Caw's wings freezing up was the result of an attack…it's hard to really tell the difference, because I have them glaring and screeching a lot, but Prowler had used a screech attack, and that startled/scared/automatically prevented Caw from moving, or however you imagine it might work to lower defense.

Negrek – Hi! Your favorite's Sono? Great! Now almost everyone is someone's favorite.

(Poor Howler…I'll have to try to get him to show up more…)

Act – Well, I wouldn't say Elliot's behavior gives Prowler the idea she has more power. I think she's thought she was in charge from almost the very start. Discord has been pretty much ignored, hasn't he? I've got some stuff for him, but I do need to work harder on giving him more screentime.

* * *

_Haunter is a dangerous pokemon. If one beckons you while floating in darkness, you must never approach it. This pokemon will try to lick you with its tongue and steal your life away._

_- Ruby Pokedex _

Chapter Twenty-Three: Appearances

-

"Hey." A girl was perched on a boulder by the side of the path. She hopped down at Elliot's approach. "You're a trainer. I challenge you."

"O-okay," Elliot said, somewhat surprised. The girl looked younger than the usual ten years, and she was slight, even frail-looking. She seemed harmless. But she did have a several pokeballs around her waist, so she was a trainer.

"Two against two," she said.

"Okay," Elliot said again. He grabbed Din's Premierball and threw it. This battle wouldn't be hard, he thought, so it'd be good practice.

The girl responded by throwing a Safariball that released a scyther.

The battle was swift. Din bit into the carapace, bearing down with her strong jaws until the shell of its side cracked. The scyther slashed her again and again. Shortly, her grip broke and she slid down, unconscious, oozing blood mostly hidden by her thick fur.

Elliot recalled her with barely a glance, already thinking about the next pokemon. He threw Howler's pokeball. "Flamethrower!"

Quickly, the girl recalled the scyther. She ducked under the blast of heat and then tossed out her second pokemon. A large, rangy pokemon, somewhat doglike, materialized.

Elliot pulled out his pokedex and pointed it.

The new pokemon tackled Howler, sinking its teeth into his side. The two rolled on the ground for a minute, then it jumped back. Howler had fainted.

"I thought you'd be a lot weaker," Elliot admitted, handing the money over. The girl took it in a motion just slower than snatching. "You didn't look strong."

"I'm not the one who fought," the girl said, brushing her black hair out of her eyes as she counted the bills.

-

-

"I don't know who you've been talking to, but Team Rocket's not here," the man said, sounding annoyed. As Elliot walked off, he head the man turn to a friend and make a remark about stupid kids wanting to be heroes. Elliot flushed.

That wasn't it. He didn't really want to be there. But he was obligated to. His friend had asked, and then he'd heard the trainers talking. He'd been attacked by Team Rocket, he knew about them, and now he was stronger, so he had to go after them. That was how it worked.

This knowledge couldn't get rid of the pit in his stomach, though.

Elliot headed toward the Pokemart to buy supplies. He passed a pair of chatting women.

"…expensive."

"And my kids, they complained it was so _morbid_. But…"

Inside the Pokemon Mart, Elliot picked a few potions and a large bag of pokemon food off the shelves. Several nearby shoppers were talking about marowak. Elliot had always had a slight fear of them – they were said to rob graveyards for their bones, and for several weeks back when he was a still a kid, nine years old, he had woken up almost every night from bad dreams about them. He wasn't scared now, of course, just didn't like them, but he hurried to the counter, bought the items, and left again.

He headed toward the Pokemon Tower. He'd heard ghost pokemon showed up there, and who knew, maybe someone would know about Team Rocket there.

Elliot turned a corner and saw an Officer Jenny.

She wasn't in uniform. She was holding the hand of a child, about two years old in appearance, who looked like a smaller copy of her. On the other side of the girl was a man Elliot guessed was the father.

The Jenny had a serene, cheerful look on her face. The girl looked like a typical little kid, with wide, entranced eyes and one hand at her mouth.

The man looked like a chained growlithe confronted by a blastoise. He didn't look entirely sane, his face was a frozen grimace, and he was walking as if he didn't know how to bend his legs.

The toddler turned toward him and smiled, reaching out for his hand. The man made a strangled sound and fell backward. The girl's expression didn't change. Her arm stayed held out, extended like a robot.

The man's expression looked as if it would be more fitting for someone who had narrowly avoided being run over by a car.

"Dear," the Jenny said, reaching out to touch his shoulder. "You don't look so well."

He nodded numbly.

"You must be sick. We should go home."

The man stood like a marionette and she led him away. He shuddered suddenly, the motion so violent he nearly fell again.

-

-

Before entering the tower, Elliot paused, staring at the large, forbidding black door. He gulped, the thought suddenly occurring to him that there were _ghosts_ in there.

Well, ghost pokemon. That was different, right? They weren't really dead or anything, just puffs of gas. Ghost types were just pokemon that happened to have bodies that could float through stuff. Nothing to be scared of. Silly haunter and gengar were a television staple, especially with simple programming for little kids. He wasn't afraid of something a three year old would point and laugh at. He pushed open the door and entered.

It was gloomy inside. Elliot blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting. There were other people inside, mainly older adults. Elliot walked in, noticing there was a staircase to his right. He headed toward it.

"Stop!" screeched a woman, jumping out in front of him. She was wearing a loose white shirt that Elliot recognized as the garb of a channeller. He eeped, going left and then stumbling as he tried to get away from her. She reached for him with grasping claws and he scuffed his shoe on the ground and tripped himself. He fell forward, coincidentally so that she was no longer between him and the staircase, then scrambled to his feet and ran in the direction he was facing. He got up the stairs.

He stopped at the top, looking down nervously, but the strange woman didn't seem interested in pursuit. He took a moment to calm down. He wondered what that had been about. She didn't seem so scary now…but he still didn't really want to go back down.

Looking around, he saw there was a strange haze over everything. It blurred objects nearby and further away changed the air into a featureless dull grayness. Elliot couldn't see across the room. There were gravestones everywhere.

This was a little scary, Elliot admitted. He opened Sono's pokeball.

The spearow looked around placidly. She flew up to perch on his shoulder. ((So where are we?)) she asked in his ear.

"We're at Pokemon Tower," Elliot said, unconsciously keeping his voice quiet. "It's a place where people bury their dead pokemon."

((Why bury?))

"Because that's what you do when something dies." Elliot didn't wonder at this, but Sono's question made him wonder why a tower. He thought about all the people below, on the first floor, with dead things in the ceiling over their heads, then shuddered, looking up. The tower had several floors.

Elliot was too disturbed by that thought to wonder why the people had been on the first floor if there were graves in the whole of the tower, especially considering that the more recent graves should be on the higher levels. Instead, he started walked through the irregularly spaced headstones, moving toward the other side. It seemed to be getting colder. Elliot rubbed his arms, looking around nervously. He didn't see any ghosts…

"Gah!" Elliot yelled. He'd almost walked right into one of the statues erected on the floor. Elliot looked at the carved stone of a sitting, regal persian, whose eyes seemed to have a very faint shine to them, probably a trick of the low light. He took a deep breath, calming down. "Hi," he said, patting its stone flanks. It felt cool but not actually that cold. "Sorry about that." He headed on.

"……ssssss……" whispered the air. Elliot jumped and walked faster. Sono fidgeted on his shoulder.

((What is it?)) she chirped.

"It's just eerie, being here," Elliot mumbled.

Sono didn't see how. She trilled, peering interestedly at the stones and occasional statures as they passed.

There! The third staircase. Elliot walked faster, then started to run.

"Go back!" A woman jumped at him, her eyes black hollows in the low light. "Go back!"

Elliot screamed. He didn't try to stop, just kept doing, running past her and up the second staircase.

Again, the woman didn't seem to try to pursue. Elliot's heart was hammering. He leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. He shot an anxious look at the staircase, thinking at any moment he'd see her coming up. What was going on?

The haze of the lower level was now so thick Elliot felt it would smother him. He deliberately took several deep breaths, feeling the wet air slide down his throat chokingly but work fine in his lungs.

Why did he have to go there? Why didn't he run back when the first woman attacked him? Why were they attacking him at all, what had he ever done to deserve this?

But he wasn't scared, he reminded himself. Not of two old women and a bunch of fog. He was a trainer, and he was supposed to explore. He was a friend, and he'd been asked to do this. He'd been attacked by Team Rocket, and he had to go after them now.

Even if he didn't want any of that and what he really wished was that he was safe at home.

He took several more breathes and walked on, petting Sono on the head with one hand.

"Ofh!" Elliot tripped over one of the headstones and knocking Sono off. He scrambled up as quickly as he could, cringing to feel the soft ground under his fingers. Wasn't it bad luck or something? he thought? Like it'd make ghosts come after you for disrespecting their tombstone? But ghost pokemon weren't ghosts. But…that didn't mean there weren't ghosts, did it?

Sono returned to his shoulder after he righted himself.

There was a weird moaning sound. "Sono," Elliot whispered. "Can you hear that?"

((Hear what?))

Elliot didn't answer. He walked nervously along, looking around as well as he could trying not to move his head much.

Suddenly a form materialized in front of him. It was monstrous, dripping blood and bits. Elliot screamed, falling backward.

((What? What is it?)) Sono asked as she flew upward, through the face of the thing.

"D-don't you see it?" Elliot stammered.

((But it's just bits of light. It's not real.))

Not real. Elliot stared at it, holding perfectly still. Not real. An illusion. Like a picture. He wouldn't be scared of a picture. He tried to stand up but couldn't.

((What's wrong? What's wrong?)) Sono said anxiously, beating her wings.

Elliot whimpered as the monster started to shamble toward him.

((Not real!)) Sono cheeped frantically. ((Not real! Just bits of light out of the walls!))

Elliot was frozen, watching it get nearer and nearer.

((Close your eyes!)) Sono shouted.

Flinching, Elliot did, holding up his arms to ward it off. He didn't touch anything.

((Oh oh oh,)) Sono said after a moment. ((Don't open your eyes.))

"What? What's happening?" Automatically, Elliot's eyes opened.

The things were everywhere. Elliot screamed, scrambling backward until his back bumped into something flat and hard. He cowered, closing his eyes and shielding his head with his arms.

((Elliot! Elliot, they're not real!))

Elliot whimpered again. After a minute he whispered, "…they look real. They look dead."

((Not real! Not dead!)) Sono denied. She sounded like she was getting scared.

"They're ghosts. Or zombies."

((No! Not ghosts! Pictures from the walls!)) Sono's voice was growing frantic. ((Fake! Fake!))

"…they don't look fake…" Elliot whispered. His throat closed up with a quiet sob.

((Don't look at them!))

Elliot didn't answer.

((Elliot! Elliot!)) Sono was starting to sound hysterical herself.

"I can't."

((Don't open your eyes. Just go to the stairs and then they won't be there."

"I can't. I can't if I can't open my eyes."

Sono made worried noises for a while, then said, ((Stay here.))

Elliot whimpered again and tried to curl tighter.

It felt like hours passed before Elliot heard Sono's voice again.

((Found it.)) She let out a nervous peep when Elliot didn't answer. ((Elliot, are you listening? Tell me if you're listening.))

"…yes…"

((Stand up.))

Elliot shook his head slightly underneath his arms.

((Stand up,)) Sono repeated. ((You can stand up without opening your eyes, can't you? Just stand up. Stand up. Stand up.))

Shakily, Elliot did so. He felt agonizingly exposed. He quivered, certain that at any moment something was going to stab him in the stomach. His legs started to crumple.

((Stand up! Stand up!)) Sono screeched. She definitely sounded frightened.

Elliot straightened up a little.

((Take a step.))

"I can't. I can't walk if I can't see." Especially not now, not with the things everywhere waiting for him.

((Just one step. You can take a step.))

After a moment Elliot did so.

((That's it, that's it,)) Sono chirped excitedly. ((Now take another step. And another. Now, hold out your hand and touch that.))

Flinchingly, Elliot did so. He jerked back when he first felt it then hesitantly reached back out. He felt cold, smooth stone, flat on the sides, about waist high.

((Turn so it's on your left. That's it. Now, take a step…))

It seemed to take an eternity. Sono kept talking and talking. When Elliot touched the metal railing, he stopped.

"Wait, Sono, this can't be right," he said, opening his eyes by reflex, then cringed.

But there weren't any ghosts. They were in an enclave, and the mist was gone. Elliot peeked out the opening to see the same ghostly graveyard, with the moaning things wandering about. He backed up quickly as he dared, hoping they hadn't seen him.

He looked back at the staircase. It was different than the ones he'd been climbing. Those had thick wooden railings, not ones made of metal bars.

((I looked for the staircase but there was just a bunch of mostly hidden rubble and a fake seal over the hole,)) Sono said. ((But I kept looking and I found this.))

"The- the way down is-" Elliot slumped against the wall, stunned.

((No! The way up!)) Sono said, terrified. She didn't understand what was wrong with Elliot. ((You ran up here and you were so scared, so I thought you wouldn't be able to go down, so I brought you here. I heard people up here.))

"Okay," Elliot said, trying to regain his thoroughly destroyed calm. "Thanks, Sono." He fiddled with his pokeballs, letting out Din and Prowler. Having them both out just made him feel better. If something happened, he had three pokemon out. They'd protect him. He started to climb the stairs, listening to the ominous deep ring the cast iron grill made.

He stepped onto the next level.

It was like another world, with rich carpeting over the floors and bright light. Elliot felt as if he'd walked into some expensive office building. He was in the hallway, with no doors on either side. He took two steps in and heard someone speak.

"Hey!" a man was yelling off a distance away. "You little brat, you snuck up here?" Elliot ran toward the sound. He turned a corner – nothing – and kept going.

"Let go of me!" a boy yelled.

Elliot heard a pokeball opening just as he turned the next corner, and a man yell in shock. He saw a boy, a man in a black uniform, and a charmeleon.

The man's uniform had a bright red R on the chest. There was a matching red seeming through his left sleeve. He swore.

Elliot recognized the boy. He was the one Elliot had seen arguing with his sister.

What…what was happening?

* * *

Next chapter: You know about the cheri, demi and arcs. But there's another kind…


	24. Gen Trainer

This chapter turned out to be a lot harder to write than I thought, so it's late.

Pika-Zukin – You thought that girl had a suicune??? No, definitely not. A pre-teen girl does not get to have one of the coolest legendary pokemon. Maybe in some OT stories, but not here. Elliot didn't know it, so it's a normal, doglike pokemon that's either from Johto or Hoenn. (And since it attacked physically, probably something that doesn't have a type advantage)

And don't worry, I do know where this is going, and there is an explanation.

* * *

Gen Trainer

-

The rocket looked furious. With his other arm he threw two pokeballs, which opened to release a zubat and raticate. The man yelled an order, then swayed slightly, holding onto the wall for support. The raticate tackled the charmeleon, and the zubat shrieked. The charmeleon cringed, stopping its attack, and the flying pokemon swooped at the boy.

Prowler ran and jumped, knocking the zubat to the ground and pinning it. Without the noise, the charmeleon recovered, slashing and biting at the raticate until it collapsed.

The man cursed and pulled off three more pokeballs, releasing a drowzee, grimer, and another raticate.

Prowler snarled, pouncing on the drowzee and raking it with her claws, while the charmeleon flamed the others. The man ran off clumsily, looking almost drunk. The pokemon were swiftly beaten. In Prowler's case, the drowzee was unmoving, and she gave the body a parting bite before jumping off and padding back to Elliot.

"Thank you," the boy said formally, doing a partial bow toward the charmeleon. He turned to Elliot. "And thank you for your help." He thanked Prowler as well, bowing to each of them in turn.

"What are you doing here?" Elliot asked.

The boy looked somewhat guilty. "I overheard some rockets talking by accident about this place, so I came here." The charmeleon snorted, creating a bright flash of flame.

"And that guy – shouldn't we get out of here? He'll get more, won't he?"

"Nah," the boy said. "Sis said they'll get in trouble if they say they lost." He turned to the charmeleon, who looked a bit surly. "He won't get anyone, right?"

The charmeleon nodded curtly.

"Well, we've both gotten here," the boy said. "Might as well continue. My name's Miguel. Yours?"

"I'm Elliot."

The boy nodded. "This is Inferno-who-chooses-to-be-charmeleon. He likes that to be clear." The charmeleon snorted again.

"This is Prowler, and this is Din, and this is Sono," Elliot said, feeling like the participant in some sort of ritual. The boy bowed slightly to each of them.

The charmeleon looked around. Somewhat grudgingly, he started forward. The boys began walking deeper in.

"It's probably stupid of me to do this," the boy said. "But I figure, it might as well be me. I should do something good. Why are you here?"

"I don't know," Elliot said honestly. "I heard a rumor they were in Lavender, and I was intending to try to find them, but I came to the Tower to catch a ghost type for my friend."

"Ghost – but they're – your family doesn't know? – well, I guess lots of people don't. Ghosts can get really dangerous. Not because they're especially strong, exactly, but they can be tricky and vicious. That's why it's not a good idea to be around a bunch. The ones here are supposed to be asleep, but there's no telling what one might do if it's still awake. Those ones are the worst." Inferno grumbled. "My sister'll be mad when she finds out I came here."

Prowler was muttering inaudibly with the charmeleon up ahead. The two were walking well in front of the others.

"So how many badges have you gotten?" Miguel asked.

"Six," Elliot said. "I was just in Saffron."

"Pretty lucky," Miguel said. "I've gotten two. I'm supposed to get the full eight, but I don't know if I will." His voice was subdued. "I'm really…I didn't really want to go, but I have to. It's not fair to my sister otherwise."

"What do you mean?"

"She's the oldest, and I'm the next oldest, because my older brother died. So if I'm not able to do anything, it all falls on her. And she's got enough to worry about." The boy sighed. "I'm not a trainer, not really."

The boy fell silent. Elliot was spared having to figure out what to say by the appearance of a solid dozen of raticate and rattata.

Inferno took a quick breath and exhaled a wall of fire, the heat and flames pausing them momentarily. Miguel tossed three more of the five pokeballs on his belt and threw them.

Inferno ran out of breath and the flames faded. The ground and walls had a thick blackened line on them, but it hadn't been an attack, just a delay, and the enemy pokemon were unharmed.

"Tammi! Sammi! Take down! Sting, fury attack!"

Somewhat belatedly, Elliot threw out his own pokeballs as he ordered Sono and Din to attack. Together, they had ten pokemon, an almost equal number.

The fight was swift and jumbled, with Inferno using his flames to attack the most possible. Miguel's beedrill stabbed them rapidly, and the two eevee worked together to beat raticate one by one. Elliot's pokemon fought less skillfully, with only Prowler and Din seeming able to deal with a chaotic, multi-opponent battle.

Once around half of the raticate had been taken out, Inferno ran past and bit one of the two rockets commanding the pokemon on the leg. The man screamed, and his partner took off. The charmeleon released the man, who began to stagger away, and chased the second, fleeing rocket.

The raticate's fighting didn't seem affected by the loss of their trainers. When it was finally over, Elliot recalled Discord, who had a nasty puncture wound that was turning purplish around the edges, and Sono, who had fainted. Din and Howler had come out of it in moderate condition, with only a few bites and fatigue, and Prowler seemed fine. Caw was also unharmed, although he hadn't done much in the actual battle.

Miguel's pokemon seemed better off. The two eevee looked exhausted but not that injured. Elliot wasn't familiar with beedrill, but it seemed fine. Inferno didn't look like he'd even fought.

It seemed, Elliot thought, like it was easier than it had been. He thought maybe it was because he was a stronger trainer. That was how it could be sometimes, in stories, that the hero was weak at first but then won. Now that he'd gotten better, what had – being attacked like that, it wouldn't happen again.

Inferno returned, his white claws red in places. ((Moving,)) he said brusquely, and moved ahead. The boys and pokemon followed

"Weird they'd be here," Elliot said after a minute. "I mean, it must have taken a lot to add another level, and why bother?"

"You didn't hear anything about why?"

"Nope, just that they were here."

"I didn't hear much either, but there's something going on with the cubone here. It's really shady. Seems there are a lot of cubone skulls showing up on the market, especially right around here, where they've in high demand. I think Team Rocket's involved."

"Cubone skulls?" Elliot repeated.

"Yeah. There are a few cubone in the area, although they're really rare. In all of Kanto, this is the only place you can find them. And it matches the proposed habitat by Professor Willow, so…they say the ancient marowak graveyard might be near here."

Elliot had heard stories about that. "So you think someone found the graveyard?"

"Well, maybe – people have been looking for it for a long time. But they also might be catching cubone."

"Stealing their skulls? But the Jennies wouldn't let that happen."

The boy gave him an odd look. "You don't…" he trailed off. "Well, it doesn't matter. Anyway, it's just a thought. I ho – it's not true. They wouldn't…it's really hard to catch enough cubone, so it wouldn't make sense."

They came upon one of the rockets. The man was sitting slumped against the wall, breathing raggedly. The carpet around him looked wet. His eyes were shut and his skin was pasty and covered in sweat. The boys started to pause.

((Moving!)) the charmeleon reminded them.

"Will he be okay?" Elliot said.

Miguel looked at Inferno. "Is he going to bleed to death?"

((Blood has already stopped,)) said Inferno, gesturing sharply with one arm. ((Has plenty left. Not your concern.))

"Okay," Elliot said uncertainly, walking past. Some of the pokemon stopped to sniff, but they seemed uneasy at what they smelled and hurried on. Din whined uncertainly, and the two eevee barked, the sound piercing.

Inferno paused. ((Less noise. Put back noisy ones.))

"Huh?"

"The pokemon are making too much noise," Miguel said, pulling two pokeballs off his belt and recalling Tammi and Sammi. He replaced those and then recalled the beedrill, leaving only Inferno out.

Elliot followed his example, recalling all his pokemon except Prowler, who was up ahead talking inaudibly with Inferno.

"So where do you live?" asked Miguel.

"In Russet. It's near Cerulean."

"What's it like?"

"Nothing much. It's really boring there. Just a bunch of families and some stores. There were a couple of other kids I used to play with, but I haven't seen them since I left to be a pokemon trainer. My mom would call it 'sleepy' and said it was a great place to raise kids, but that's just how parents say boring and nothing to do."

"It sounds nice."

"You're just as weird as her. Where did you live?"

"I-"

Inferno snarled suddenly, turning away from Prowler and facing them. ((He's not gen! She's caught!)) he yelled. Flames gathered in his mouth. Prowler tackled him, making the attack hit the ceiling.

"It's okay, Inferno, I figured it out already," Miguel said.

((You're talking to him!))

"Come on Inferno, we're not in danger. He'd probably be more dangerous if he was gen."

((He's not part of this! Do you know what–))

"He's not going to do anything." Miguel turned to Elliot. "Right?"

"Do what? What's a gen?"

"Someone whose family raises pokemon."

"Like a breeder."

"Not exactly. We just always have pokemon. We're not really part of the rest of Kanto. My family lives –"

Inferno's growl drowned him out. The charmeleon's tail was lashing from side to side, the flame burning bluish white.

"- well, it's not really important," Miguel said. "Besides, we're probably going to leave. That's why my sister said."

"Why? Are your parents-"

"They're dead." At Elliot's expression, Miguel added, "It's okay. They weren't really around much. It was a while ago, anyway. One of my cousins was taking care of us, so she just kept doing that. My sister's the head of the family now. She wants us to go to Johto, where the rest of the family is."

"Why didn't you go there to start, when your parents died?"

"It's hard for people like us to leave Kanto. And…we really don't want to leave. We've lived there forever. But my sister says it's too dangerous to stay anymore. She's probably right."

They continued down the labyrinthine corridors. No one attacked them, and Elliot started to feel uneasy. There were occasional doors, but they were always locked or else opened into empty rooms.

They turned what seemed like the hundredth corner and found another door. Miguel went up to it first and turned the knob. The door opened partway, and Elliot felt a gust of freezing air. Miguel slammed the door shut, his face white.

"What is it?"

"Nothing," Miguel said. He was breathing in great gulps, like a diver who'd just surfaced. "It's nothing." Elliot started toward the door. "It's nothing," Miguel repeated. "Come on, we've got to keep going." He grabbed Elliot's arm and started walking, pulling him past the door.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Nobody's shown up for a while, so probably…" Miguel trailed off. "The guys we've met weren't really trainers. There's gotta be at least one trainer here. If we're lucky, he won't know we're here yet."

"Not trainers?" Elliot repeated. "Why not? What else were they?"

"Just guys with pokemon," Miguel said. "Look, you've – just trust me. Rocket trainers, they're…we beat those guys even though they outnumbered us. Those weren't trainers."

((Noise,)) Inferno said suddenly. ((People this way.)) He started to run. The boys followed. There was a large door. Elliot didn't recognize what that meant, but Miguel did. Storeroom. He shoved the doors open.

The inside was huge. Black-uniformed men and burly machoke were hurriedly moving a few boxes out the doors behind. They didn't even pause to look up at the intruders. The room was mostly empty, as if they'd already moved out most of whatever was there.

One man was standing there, not doing anything, as the others filed out. He tossed out a pokeball. A haunter appeared. Inferno slashed it instantly, cutting the vapor to bits. It dissipated.

"W-what?" the man said.

"He's a Spiritkiller," Miguel said. Elliot looked at him. Miguel looked confident, fearless. Adult. "Or do you call them Exorcists now?"

The man looked scared, disbelieving. "Liar," he said. "Those don't exist anymore – they never existed!" He threw out five more pokeballs. A gastly, three more haunter, and a gengar appeared. It took Inferno only seconds to tear them apart. He jumped onto the man, the huge claws on his back legs sinking into the rocket's midsection, then they jerked down, and Elliot screamed.

"Stop him!" Elliot yelled, grabbing Miguel. Miguel shoved him off.

"He's a Ghost trainer," Miguel said harshly.

Inferno's head came up from the body. He looked around, blood dripping slowly off his muzzle. ((Follow,)) the charmeleon said.

Elliot didn't move. Miguel pulled him along, past the disemboweled corpse, following the charmeleon. They came to a staircase, the same kind of metal grill Elliot had seen on the last staircase up.

"Come on," Miguel said. He hurried down, dragging Elliot behind him. "They might not have gotten away yet. We might be able to catch them."

"So you can kill them too?" Elliot yelled. "He hadn't killed anyone!"

Miguel turned and yelled back, "They killed all the-" Miguel bit back the rest of the sentence. "I'm sorry," he said instead, continuing down the steps.

"No you're not!"

"He was a Ghost trainer. My enemy. You're not gen, you can't understand. You're lucky." They had reached the bottom of the stairs. Miguel started to push open the door. "It's how things are."

Outside, the last of the black trucks were driving away. Inferno growled angrily.

There was a deafening explosion, followed seconds later by the pattering of tiny fragments hitting the ground. Elliot looked up and saw black smoke billowing out of the top of the tower.

"Destroying the evidence. And probably hoping to get us too," Miguel said, seeing his expression. He shoved a pokeball into Elliot's hands. "Here."

"What is it?"

"My failure. The first one I fought, when Sting wasn't strong enough. For your friend." Miguel looked around. There was the sound of sirens in the distance. "I've got to get going. You'd better leave too. Listen, if you meet anyone like me again…it'd probably be a good idea to stay away from them."

* * *

Next chapter: Rock Tunnel. Discord should be able to use that move, right? Wait, Howler shouldn't be able to do that. What's Prowler talking about? And hey, didn't Caw just…? 


	25. Denial

Sorry this chapter's late! I'll try to get the next one up on Saturday.

* * *

Denial

-

"So the gastly's good?"

"Great!" said Anthony. "How'd you get it, anyway?"

"Someone…gave it to me," Elliot said vaguely.

"Really? Well, thanks again, this is awesome!"

-

-

Elliot was training Discord as the food cooked. A rattata – stupid, aggressive, or maybe just hungry – had approached.

"Sing, Discord!" Elliot ordered. Discord looked confused. Uncertainly, he opened his mouth and began a warped and somewhat quieter version of his uproar attack.

"No, Discord, _sing_," Elliot said. "Put it to sleep." Discord looked baffled.

((Those ones can't sing,)) Prowler said mildly, watching the spectacle with amusement.

Caw stared at her. ((Jigglypuff sing.))

Prowler ignored the pointed look. ((Not that kind. They're not the same thing. The singers can't hit or yell. His kind can.))

((Jigglypuff sing,)) Caw repeated firmly.

Prowler snorted. After a moment she said, ((Elliot, the water.))

"What? Oh!" The soup was bubbling over. Elliot rushed to take the pot off the fire. The rattata took advantage of the distraction and tackled Discord, who pounded it into a faint.

-

-

"Wow…" Elliot said.

Rock Tunnel was a passageway carved through a hulking, unnamed mountain. The stone was bare and cragged, shooting upward to a point Elliot couldn't see. It looked scary, cursed, with spiky juts of rock and nothing growing. He said as much to Prowler.

((That's what it's supposed to look like,)) Prowler said.

"It doesn't look anything like the mountain range I caught you in."

Prowler growled derisively. ((Those were dirt hills, not mountains. This is not quite a real mountain, but it is close.))

"What's wrong with it?"

((Too small.))

"Um…" Elliot said. He peered inside the cave.

It was dark. Even just a few feet in it was pure blackness. How was he supposed to get through? He backed up. He was supposed to use a pokemon for light, wasn't he? "Howler!" he said, and the growlithe ran to his side, Prowler disgustedly getting out of the way. "Can you make some light?"

Howler barked, releasing a sudden burst of white flame. He looked at Elliot uncertainly.

"Like that, but light that stays. You know, that keeps going, like a campfire, but moving?"

Howler looked perplexed. After a moment, he barked again, releasing a bright fireball that hovered for an instant before vanishing. The next one lasted perhaps ten seconds.

The growlithe seemed to be concentrating. Elliot thought he might have been glowing very faintly, but couldn't tell if that was just his imagination.

Howler opened his mouth again and a ghostly blue-white ball appeared. It hovered in the air, bobbling and weaving as if alive. The growlithe sat back, tail wagging satisfiedly.

Prowler stared at in, looking entranced. She leaned forward until her nose was almost touching it, but then pulled back.

Elliot reached out as well.

((Don't touch it,)) Prowler warned.

Elliot withdrew his hand. "Why not?"

((That's spirit fire.))

((No, it isn't,)) Caw interrupted.

((Stupid Bird.)) She looked at Elliot. ((Well, go. You wanted light.))

"Oh, um, yeah," Elliot stammered, startled out of his trance. He stepped forward, into the cave, the flame bobbing ahead of him.

They walked in silence for a time. It was dark and the flame only illuminated a few feet of area. Elliot was glad for his pokemon's company.

The fireball bobbed. Elliot watched it. It was constantly changing, the surface rippling…

"Ah!" Elliot yelled, tripping and falling. He grabbed the wall and caught himself. "Hey," he said, looking at his smarting hand and then the wall. "Why's it so sharp?"

((Because it is rock?)) Discord suggested, sounding confused.

"Rock's not like that. Rocks are smooth and rounded."

((Rocks against water are round,)) Prowler said. ((But here they are not, so you see them as they were when the one who made this first broke through.))

"That doesn't make any sense. Rocks don't break like this."

Prowler lurched to the side, smashing into the wall. A chuck broke off. She swatted it to Elliot's feet. Elliot picked it up.

((Rocks break sharp,)) Prowler said. ((See?))

Elliot turned it over in his hand, baffled. After a little while he dropped it and continued on.

A zubat dove out of the blackness. It flew through the flame, then screeched, plummeting. Howler quickly jumped it, crunching it between his jaws.

The growlithe gagged and spat it out, holding his mouth open and whining.

((What happened?)) Din asked.

((Stupid thing tried to eat a zubat. They're poisonous,)) Prowler said disdainfully.

The fire flickered for a few moments, then returned to normal. The group continued on, Howler whimpering every few minutes.

Elliot started watching the flame again. It was almost hypnotic, how the surface rippled upward endlessly yet the ball never seemed to lose substance at the bottom, and how bobbed up and down…

"Ah!" Elliot yelled again. This time his flailing arms didn't find the wall and he fell painfully, the large rock he'd tripped over scrapping his shin badly and his whole body landing awkwardly, one foot stuck behind him by the stone.

Which suddenly moved and grumbled to itself, two arms detaching from the main round body.

"Oh, just a geodude," Elliot said, relieved. He'd been really startled. The geodude rolled backward, then started to spin towards him. Caw knocked it off course with a sudden icy wind. The geodude groaned and unrolled, lying limply on the ground.

The group continued on.

By the time they made it out, Elliot's legs were badly bruised. Prowler had seen how clumsy he was being and made an effort to grab him, but she'd been distracted by cave pokemon much of the time. He flopped down on the grass directly outside.

"We'll camp here," he said.

-

-

Elliot woke up in the black of night, the ground writhing under him. He opened his eyes to see the silhouette of something gigantic against the moon.

His pokemon had already woken. Elliot felt a chill and realized Caw was using the same move he had earlier against the geodude. It didn't have much effect on the behemoth. Prowler slashed at the body, claws shining in the moonlight, and the onix let out a deep scream as she carved out chunks of rock. Its body thrashed. Prowler ducked the swinging tail but Howler wasn't so lucky. The growlithe was slammed into the side of the mountain.

Elliot scrambled for his pokebelt, pulling Howler's Greatball off and recalling him. The onix's tail smashed the ground and the shock tossed Elliot off his feet. The pokebelt flew out of his hands. When it hit the ground, the pokeballs were thrown in all directions.

Caw sent another icy wind at the onix. It shuddered, stilling somewhat, and Prowler used the opportunity to run up its back. She dug her claws into the rock on its head, gouging out pieces the size of Sono. The onix roared, shaking its head frantically but failed to dislodge her. Finally, its head plummeted down, Prowler barely jumping off in time, and it tunneled rapidly into the ground and escaped.

Prowler fell onto her side. Her paws were bloody, the claws broken, and she couldn't stand on them.

Elliot couldn't recall her either. Her Ultraball, along with Sono's pokeball, had been crushed by the onix's body.

-

-

By the next morning Prowler had healed somewhat. Elliot had sprayed her with potions and her skin seemed to be sealing over naturally. She walked gingerly, limping, but rebuffed Elliot's inquiries, insisting she was fine.

Elliot, perhaps not the most wisely, was training Sono against the grass types who showed up along the path. This continued without problem until they ran into a vileplume.

Elliot didn't remember the lesson he learned in Celadon. Sono wound up paralyzed badly enough to be unable to move. The vileplume wasn't willing to stop the battle there, either. When Elliot tried to retrieve Sono, he narrowly avoided an acid attack.

Prowler attacked it, biting it below its petals deeply enough to draw a gout of ichor. The vileplume's petals shook, releasing a purple powder. Prowler ignored this and bit it again and again, until the grass type slumped down against the ground.

Elliot was spraying a paralyze heal over Sono. Within moments, the spearow was back to normal. He turned to Prowler, who was stumbling slightly. Elliot checked his pokedex, which reported poisoning, and administered an antidote.

They continued along the path until Prowler collapsed.

-

-

Prowler's breathing was ragged, and her legs kept twitching, as if she was trying to move. Her eyes looked strange, the pupils huge, the blackness filling her iris almost like an eclipse. Elliot remembered when Howler was sick once, how his mother had noticed that and said it was a sign, and they'd taken him to the Pokemon Center. He could feel the heat too, even though her fur. Din was licking her worriedly.

He didn't know what to do. With her Ultraball smashed, he couldn't bring her to the Center. He didn't have any other pokeballs either, he'd left them in storage. He had to deal with this himself.

The pokedex hadn't given him much help, containing only a short note that some grass and poison moves could result in an allergic reaction. He'd tried giving her another antidote, but she didn't get better.

What was he supposed to do? His mother had covered him in blankets when he had a fever, but she'd also kept cold, wet cloths on his forehead. Was he supposed to try to cool Prowler down or warm her up?

((Where are they?)) Prowler said suddenly. She started to try to stand, but her legs didn't hold.

((Where are who?)) Din asked.

((Where…)) Prowler stood, swaying, and took a step. She crumpled back down. She started to stand again.

Din tried to push her down. ((Prowler, I don't understand!)) the mightyena said, sounding upset.

((Where are they? I have to…they're making too much noise. I can't…))

((Who is? Prowler!))

"It's okay Prowler," Elliot said nervously.

((No!)) she snarled. ((Where are they? They have to…it's bad luck she said so, too many.))

((What do you mean? Prowler, what are you talking about?))

((She's delirious, it doesn't have any meaning,)) Caw said flatly. ((See if you can knock her out. This shouldn't last long.))

((Where are they?)) Prowler struggled. Din lay on top of her, trying to keep her from getting up. It worked for a few moments, then the mightyena was shoved off. ((They're making too much noise I have to make them quiet!)) She forced herself to her feet, looking around frantically, the rapid movement of her head almost making her lose her balance. ((I have to make them quiet!))

"Discord, try to sing, put her to sleep!"

Discord tried. His voice was harsh but seemed to follow some sort of melody, and the noise mellowed and strengthened somewhat as he continued.

It did not have the desired affect. Prowler screamed, slashing Din's side open as the mightyena tried to restrain her, and lunged sloppily at the jigglypuff. Her legs didn't respond properly and she fell hard, but pulled herself back up.

Caw flew in front of her. His eyes glowed. For a moment, nothing happened. Prowler stared at him with fury and undisguised hatred. But then her eyes started to close and she sank to the ground.

"What did you do?" Elliot asked. "Was that hypnosis?"

((No,)) Caw said.

She didn't wake up for hours. At one point her breathing stopped, but then it started again, ragged and irregular. Slowly that improved and her fever dropped. It was almost night by the time she awoke.

She limped off, her paws reopened by the struggle, for a drink. Din followed her. When she returned, she flopped wordlessly by the fire.

"Prowler," Elliot said. The persian looked at him. "You said some stuff earlier." She didn't respond. "It didn't really make any sense. You kept talking about noise. That something was making noise."

((I don't know.))

"Really? It seemed really important to you."

((I don't know.))

"You said you had to make something quiet. You were really upset."

((I don't know.))

* * *

Next chapter: Misty's gone?

Yeah, she eloped!

With Bill.

No, Koga!

That's ridiculous, everyone knows she left with Lorelei.

You guys are nuts. It's obvious she was abducted by a flying saucer filled with clefairy.

No, she eloped with a clefairy!


	26. Light Blue Rumors

Short chapter this week. It's maintaining plotlines but not really doing much else. Next week's chapter will have some disturbing new stuff involving…well, you'll find out.

Negrek – Well, murkrow can learn icy wind by TM, so that's normal, and all jigglypuff are born knowing sing, so Discord must as well, right? Being a jigglypuff and all. But murkrow can't learn hypnosis. And Caw _said_ it wasn't hypnosis and I'm sure he wouldn't lie about that. That would be deceitful.

Act – Prowler's not going to crack, but I'll leave you to decide if she's sane to start. (She does have a head injury…) And yeah, Elliot's still unaware of what's up. But putting pieces together can be a lot harder than it looks, and he is just ten. He'll learn most of it in the end. Until then…

Keleri – I **like** trying to break brains, that's why. This chapter'll be somewhat normalish, but watch out for the next…

* * *

Light Blue Rumors 

-

Elliot hadn't been in Cerulean since the very start of his journey, back when he was still almost a kid. Now he was nearly eleven – just four more months! - so he wasn't so awed anymore. He'd seen plenty of cities.

He was just a little impressed. It was always sort of stunning to walk over the invisible barrier separating City and Wilderness. Although Elliot didn't think it was odd, it was still a bit striking how self-contained the cities were, how sharp the divide was.

And cars, and buildings, and electric lights, and flat asphalt, and identical cement squares on the sidewalks…it was still somewhat impressive, just by itself, after the forest.

Elliot passed the gym as he wandered around looking for the Pokemon Center. A large sign on the door proclaimed it temporarily closed.

_Sorry for the inconvenience,_ added a smiling cartoon version of the gym leader's head.

Another one? First at Viridian, then Surge was a day late, then the Saffron gym being run by an undertrainer…it was a good thing he already had this badge. Gym leaders should be more responsible, he thought.

"Hey kid," a man said. Elliot jumped. An adult, thirty years or older, was staring at him. "You want to buy something good? Pokemon love it."

"Um, I –"

The man held out something white. It was pointed, a fat cone shape, with a raggedly pink edge at the bottom. "Just five hundred. A bargain! What'd you say?"

"No thanks," Elliot said uncertainly, wondering if it had been a good idea to leave Prowler outside of the city. He started to walk past. The man quickly stepped into the way.

"C'mon, I'm telling you, this is a great deal. Good for a happy, healthy pokemon. Not too shabby for people, either."

"I – I don't –" Elliot stammered.

"Really, kid," the man said, stepping closer. "You _want_ to buy this."

"Um, I really…" Elliot trailed off. The man was staring Elliot's shoulder. He looked scared, or angry. Elliot turned as well as the man walked away quickly.

An Officer Jenny was there, looking in their direction and talking inaudibly into a radio.

-

-

Inside the Pokecenter, it took a minute for the Nurse Joy to remedy the problem, replacing the destroyed Ultraball with another one by machine. She chastised him for being careless for another minute, telling him repeatedly he should be more careful with his pokeballs. Elliot nodded and agreed with what she said, not knowing what else to say, then took the Ultraball and headed back out to get Prowler.

When he returned, he saw a girl handing the Nurse Joy a single pokeball. "How long will it be?" she asked.

"You can pick it up in two days," the Nurse Joy said. "But you should avoid battling with it for a few days afterward."

Elliot handed over all six of his pokeballs next, then sat down. Nearby, Elliot heard a clutch of trainers discussing rumors they'd heard about the gym leader, with bursts of laughter whenever one giggling trainer finished relating the compete story.

"…eloped with Koga!" The group dissolved into laughter.

"Koga? Come on, everyone knows she's off on a honeymoon with Lorelei," said another, managing to hold her serious, knowing look for a fraction of a second after finishing before breaking into hysterics.

The Nurse Joy looked at them disapprovingly.

A boy on the left took a gulp from a bottle they were passing around. "I heard she left to bring her dewgong to Seafoam."

"To elope!"

"No, to mine it for diamonds!" Giggles. "Magic ones that can evolve any pokemon!"

"Yeah, because they're dangerous!"

"No, because they make pokemon super strong!"

"Yeah, and the stone-sellers don't wanna go out of business."

"No, 'cuz the League doesn't want normal trainers to get them!"

"You guys've got it all wrong. She's collecting them for Bill, who proposed marriage!"

"Yeah, and he did it because she's the only one with the pokemon for it."

"'Cept Lorelei. So he proposed to her too, so they both went, and neither knew, but then they met and decided to run off together!"

They all laughed loudly.

"Don't be ridiculous, guys," said the first trainer to get his breath back. "Everyone knows she got abducted by clefairy."

-

-

Elliot had missed the midday meal, so he left the Center after getting his pokemon back. He headed to one of the many restaurants and ordered two slices of pizza.

The booth next to him held a gaggle of barely teenaged girls. They were discussing, apparently quite seriously, the same rumors he'd heard earlier. Although some of the more extreme embellishments the other trainers had made up on the spot were missing, many of the things Elliot had thought were just jokes appeared to actually be real rumors. One of them mentioned the clefairy flying saucer, and the others considered it gravely.

The girls quickly focused on the rumors of eloping, then digressed to who they would elope with. They spent a good fifteen minutes discussing the merits of Giovanni versus Brock alone. They seemed to have decided she must have left with Bill because he was the most elope-worthy by the time Elliot was done.

Girls were weird.

-

-

Elliot headed north. He'd wanted to see the pokemon researcher Bill and maybe find out what had happened to Gabrielle and her ponyta, but heard he was missing. Maybe that had been one of the real reasons behind rumors about the two. If they were both missing, maybe they really did run off together.

There wasn't really any other purpose to going to the cape, but since it was mid-afternoon and he didn't intend to leave late in the day, he had time to explore.

When he started to cross the bridge to the cape, a group of trainers accosted him. The leader told him he'd get a prize if he could beat five in a row. Elliot accepted the challenge.

"Go, Discord!" he yelled, tossing the Safariball.

"Go, Dainight!" the other boy said, throwing a Greatball that released an oddish. "Razor leaf!"

"Try roll out!"

Discord spun, then rolled along the ground, plowing through the leaves. Dainight managed to twist out of his path, though, and the attack missed.

"Now pound!"

"Poisonpowder!"

Discord punched the oddish, who shook its leaves and released a purple dust in retaliation. Discord shuddered.

"Doubleslap!"

Discord slapped the oddish rapidly. When he stopped, Dainight looked nearly beaten.

"Synthesis, Dainight!"

The oddish spread its leaves and glowed. It perked up, looking as healthy as at the start of the fight. Discord, on the other hand, had nicks from the leaves and was trembling as the poison worked through his system.

"Pound!"

"Acid!"

Discord hit the oddish again, doing only moderate damage, and then took the acid attack full in the face. He screamed in pain, tiny arms ineffectively trying to get the burning liquid off, then fainted.

Elliot recalled him and sent out Howler. "Flamethrower!"

When the attack ended, Elliot saw that one of the oddish's leaves had caught fire. It ran around wailing. After a moment, the other boy recalled it. He picked another pokeball. "Aquesis!"

A psyduck appeared, the helmet shining in the sunlight.

"Confusion!"

The air rippled. Howler's body contorted as if a wall had slammed into him, then collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Elliot recalled the growlithe.

Having lost, Elliot continued on. He met other trainers on the cape, some hanging around in the long grass. It seemed that abra had been seen in the area, and they were trying to find some. Elliot fought a few, sometimes winning and sometimes losing.

He headed back to the Pokecenter before it got dark. He ate supper and headed to a room, falling asleep quickly.

He woke once in the middle of the night. In his dream, he had been fighting the boy on the bridge again. But the psyduck had been rotting, eyes rolling in open sockets below the uncorrupted metal helmet as he watched. The other boy's skin was a strange white color, and there was a red line across his cheek where the beak of a spearow had torn off a strip. When Elliot raised one hand to recall Howler, he had seen tattered flesh and stained bone holding the shiny pokeball. He fell asleep again and did not remember the nightmare when morning came.

* * *

Next chapter: Kin.


	27. Kin

I like the number twentyseven. Numerically, it's a magical number, back in times when numbers had a lot attached to them. See, twentyseven adds to nine, and it's made of three nines. That's 33. Three is considered a pretty special number, as are seven and two, being single-digit primes.

Numerically significant numbers don't necessarily mean good or bad. They just mean something drastic.

Nope, no point here.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Kin

-

((What was it like there?)) asked Din.

((It was…harsh,)) Prowler said. She was staring off, not looking at Din. ((The ground was rocky and the plants were tougher and thinner. She looked at the mighyena's paws for a moment. ((Your feet would bleed if you went there. The ground would cut them up.))

((It sounds awful.))

Prowler didn't answer.

((Was that why you left?))

((No. It wasn't…that was just how it was.))

((Why did you leave?))

((I wanted to.))

((Why didn't everyone leave?))

Prowler didn't answer.

((Why didn't everyone leave?))

-

-

The pokemon, excepting Prowler and Din, were eating their breakfast outside of Mt Moon. The sight of the mountain was probably what had caused Din to ask Prowler about where she'd lived.

Prowler didn't look particularly affected by the sight herself. It was, she told Elliot, not a mountain. It was a large hill.

Caw disagreed. ((Of course it's a mountain. It's Mount Moon.))

((But it is not a mountain. It is small and the sides are flat and made of dirt. That thing-)) she jerked her head toward Howler, ((could climb it and come down the other side in a single day, without looking any worse.))

((This is what a mountain looks like.))

((I know what a mountain looks like.)) Prowler yawned. She didn't care about the argument.

((This is what a mountain looks like,)) Caw repeated. ((Don't make up stories.))

((Stupid Bird. You'd call their walls of rock mountains and their grass plains. What would you know? You've just a thrice-damned murkrow.))

-

-

The walk through Mt Moon was uneventful. There were cracks in the ceiling, filtering light through, so Elliot didn't need Howler's weird fireball again. The passage was wider than the one in Rock Tunnel, and the sides and floor were smoother, and softer too, covered in a layer of dirt. Elliot assumed there was rock behind the dirt, but he didn't see anything beyond a few pebbles.

There weren't many pokemon. A few zubat appeared, and Elliot saw a paras off in a corner and a couple of round stones he guessed were geodude. He didn't see any clefairy.

Down on the lower levels there were strings of artificial lights. Some people were working down there, looking for fossils, they told him. They were nice enough but obviously busy. They must have been part of some sort of company, because they looked like they were all wearing the same uniform, a long-sleeved, plain dark outfit. It might have been dark blue or purple or green, but it looked black in the limited light cast by the bulbs.

Elliot didn't meet anyone else. He got out after a few hours, not that long of a trip, and had enough daylight left to continue along towards Pewter. After what happened at Rock Tunnel, he wouldn't sleep anywhere near the opening of Mt Moon.

There was thick, tall grass on the sides of the path outside, which snaked through a sort of low canyon.

Sono, on Elliot's shoulder, suddenly perked up, hearing something. She cheeped in response. Feathered heads poked out of the grass, and she flew over. The spearow chirped at her and she responded, fluttering her wings excitedly. Elliot couldn't make out the words. Sono rubbed her neck against one happily.

Prowler looked at them silently, with an unreadable expression.

Sono didn't take long. She flew back to Elliot's shoulder and the group continued.

"What was that about?" he asked.

((I knew them. They met our flock once, when I was younger. My older brother went with them. I asked him to tell my parents what happened, that I'm okay.))

((You knew who your parents were?)) Discord asked.

(('Course. Doesn't everybody?))

((No one did where I lived. Everybody was just on their own. Sometimes there were twos and threes that stuck together for a while, and the nidorina did, but that was it. Why do spearow? Is there a reason?))

((Because we do. It's horrible being all alone. You always have your family. If something happens to your flock, you have to find another. It's safer that way, but even if it wasn't, it's just nicer, being around others.))

No more spearow appeared. Howler might have smelled something interesting in the air, because he started to run excitedly around Elliot. Prowler moved quickly out of his way, going into the tall grass.

She knocked into a concealed jigglypuff that had been sleeping there. Its huge blue eyes opened.

Prowler yowled, slashing it. It was tossed through the grass and smacked into the dirt wall on the side. She looked around frantically, breathing growing ragged. Her tail was stuck straight out, the fur puffed.

"Prowler, are you okay?" Elliot asked.

She didn't answer. After several seconds, she seemed to calm somewhat. She sniffed the air uncertainly.

((I don't see what you're scared of,)) Caw said. ((It's not like it's strong enough to hurt you.))

((Stupid Bird,)) she said softly. She pushed against Elliot. ((Keep going,)) she said.

"What is it?"

((There are so many here,)) Prowler said. ((How can anything stand it?)) She pushed against him again. ((Go.))

-

-

Elliot was trying to train Discord, so he had taken a break in a meadow with tall grass and was having Discord fight against the wild pokemon around the area. They defeated several pidgey and a sandshrew. The grass rustled again. A pokemon immerged.

"Pound," Elliot ordered again. Prowler intercepted the attack, bouncing the jigglypuff off her shoulder. She looked at the pokemon.

((What are you doing here?)) she said, more to herself than anything. She grabbed the meowth between her jaws. The pokemon hissed weakly and struggled, but Prowler took no notice. She padded calmly into the taller grasses, following the trail.

"Prowler? Prowler!" Elliot yelled. "What are you doing?" He was starting to sound upset. "Prowler!" He ran after her.

She spat the kitten out. ((What is it? You're noisy.))

"Don't hurt it."

((You were the one ordering it be hurt,)) she told him, sounding distantly reproachful.

"Come on, just leave it. It's okay."

((It is certainly not.)) She picked the meowth up again. Mumbling through the fur, she added, ((It is much too young to be out here.))

The other pokemon had noticed Elliot and followed him. Timidly, Din was approaching, expecting to be growled at again. Prowler instead pushed the meowth forward, the sudden motion making Din flinch nervously, but then she leaned over and sniffed the new pokemon.

The mightyena sat back on her haunches. ((What are you doing?)) she asked.

Prowler growled at Howler, who was getting too close, then glanced at the rest of the group with a look of mild irritation. ((This one is lost. I am going to look.))

((What do you mean, lost?))

((Stupid Bird. It is too young to be out alone. The mother may have lost her.))

((That's ridiculous. It's probably never even met its mother. Most meowth don't take care of their eggs. They're usually laid outside of the meowth's territory.))

((Stupid Bird,)) Prowler said again. ((Meowth don't lay eggs.)) She picked up the meowth and continued off.

Prowler caught up with them hours later, still with the meowth, who now looked sleepy and calm. She lay down by the campfire, placing the kitten on the ground. The meowth perked up somewhat at the new place and started to get up, but Prowler swiftly reclaimed it, depositing the kitten between her paws. She began vigorously licking it.

"Hi Prowler," Elliot said. "You couldn't find the mom?"

((I could not.))

"So what are you going to do now?" He remembered the last time. "Would it be okay to leave it?"

((It is too young.))

((Did fine this long,)) Caw muttered.

((Din?)) The mightyena perked up. ((Watch it.)) Prowler dropped the meowth in front of Din and left again.

Elliot fell asleep before she returned.

-

-

Elliot was woken by Sono's screeches early the next morning. Prowler was watching the hysterical bird without particular interest. She was surrounded by black feathers and clumps of feathers. The meowth was chewing happily on a wing.

((There was a flock nearby,)) Prowler was saying, not sounding as if she cared. ((I haven't seen him.))

((Liar! Why should I believe you! You're a persian, you eat birds! You're going to eat me too!))

((These were murkrow,)) Prowler said calmly, as if that made it different.

((You killed Caw and now you're going to eat me!))

((We do not eat spearow,)) Prowler said.

((Liar!))

((Before he caught you,)) Prowler said, ((if I attacked you, what would you do?))

((Be eaten.))

((What would you do?))

((I-I'd yell.))

((And the others would come,)) Prowler finished. ((Persian don't eat spearow.))

((Because you're scared of getting attacked by the whole flock,)) said Discord, sounding as if he suddenly understood.

((I just killed half a flock of murkrow. Spearow aren't strong. Stupid puffball.))

((Liar.))

((Spearow,)) Prowler said. ((When a murkrow is hurt, do you know what they do?)) Silence. ((They leave it. Abandon it. Even if they could beat the attacker, they won't. If it can't keep up, they won't wait.)) Prowler was staring at the ground. ((We don't eat spearow. Because you're…you're what we…)) She trailed off, watching the kitten pounce on the feathers as the wind made them flutter.

-

-

Caw returned before day had fully broken, his stomach especially round. His wingbeats faltered when he saw Elliot was up. He'd intended to return before Elliot had awoken. He did not glance at the feathers on the ground once.

"Where were you?" Elliot asked.

((There was a berry tree…)) Caw said.

Prowler looked revolted. ((Thrice-damned Bird,)) she hissed.

Din was confused. ((Is Caw okay? Was there a fight?))

((What?)) Sono asked.

((He smells like blood,)) Din said.

((Tell me, Bird,)) Prowler said, her voice shaking, ((how it is your cursed kind are still alive? Why is it they haven't eaten themselves all by now?)) Her tail lashed.

((An odd question for one sitting among their feathers,)) Caw said mildly. ((You injured a few you didn't kill.))

((Thrice-damned Bird,)) Prowler said.

* * *

Next chapter: The old gives way to the new. Life becomes death. Yet, isn't it right to mourn some things?


	28. Polished Stone

Well, happy holidays everyone! Here's a long chapter as a belated Christmas gift.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Polished Stone

-

Since the morning, Prowler's behavior was strange and distant. She stayed out, carrying the kitten and often disappearing for the day, coming back sometime after Elliot fell asleep at night. She hissed and snapped at Caw, chasing him until he flew into the distance or Elliot recalled him.

Elliot didn't ask her why she was acting like that. He felt a sense of anxiety and wrongness – he didn't want to say anything, so he just hoped things would go back to the way they'd been. He hadn't really understood what Prowler was talking about that morning, and there'd be no elaboration. They headed toward Pewter.

At the end of one night, in the strange false dawn before the sun had rose, Elliot awoke, or half-awoke. He didn't move in his sleeping bag, and his eyelids were still heavy, half opened. He watched the world with a sense of dreamlike distance, slowly falling back asleep.

Prowler was lying near him. He felt relieved she had returned. She was curled around the kitten, purring comfortingly and licking it.

The kitten mewed occasionally. It trembled, and its front paws kneaded blindly. Its head was nuzzling up against Prowler's side.

Prowler continued purring and licking as the trembles became shudders, and she continued as the shudders subsided. Finally the kitten lay still. Prowler continued licking it for a bit, and then she stopped. She remained curled around it for a while, and then at last she stood, picked up the small body in her jaws, and swallowed it.

When Elliot opened his eyes again, he found Prowler rubbing her side against Din's, then licking some of her fur straight. It was morning. He sat up, looking around.

"Where's the kitten?" he asked sleepily. "Where'd he go?"

((Not he,)) Prowler corrected mildly.

"Well, where's she?"

((Not she. It.))

Elliot felt cold suddenly. "I don't understand."

((The kitten was a it.))

"Where is it now?"

((It is dead.))

"You didn't – Prowler you didn't – you didn't –"

((It died. It was misborn. It could only die.)) She looked at him. ((Why do you look upset?))

"Don't you even care? After all the time you spent taking care of it, you-"

((It was a good death,)) Prowler said.

"That's a horrible thing to say!"

((There are worse ways to die. There are worse ways to live,)) Prowler said complacently. ((It was lucky to be misborn.))

Elliot shuddered and looked away from her.

-

-

Pewter was a dull gray place, built in a sort of mammoth depression in the surrounding rock, and ringed by stone walls. Although all the cities and buildings of Kanto had more than a passing similarity to each other, the houses Elliot encountered on the way in seemed somewhat more coarse and rough, as if built for heavy use and with little time or interest in unnecessary finishing touches. The difference was slight, something only one used to such minor variation would pick up, but it was certainly there.

The people seemed to look different too, although Elliot thought it was probably his imagination – making them seem somehow smaller and yet tougher, craggy like everything else, and uninterested in things around them. Not everyone was like that, but to Elliot, it seemed like there was a sharp difference between them, with some people seeming no different than anyone he'd seen in other cities, and others seeming uniformly shorter, silenter, and just different, more remote maybe. There didn't seem to be anyone in the middle.

Elliot was glad to be there. Out in the wilderness, there were only his pokemon. Here there were other people, distractions from the thoughts he had out there.

He headed towards the Pokemon Center. Inside there everything was normal, the same as it always was. He handed the Nurse Joy his pokemon and sat down, thinking about the upcoming gym fight.

The Pewter Gym was a rock-type one. He started looking though his pokedex, checking his pokemon's attacks. He had three pokemon that were weak against rock types, which left Din, Discord and Prowler. None of them were really that good of a choice, but he hoped that some of them might have effective moves.

Discord's listed moves didn't look promising, but the pokedex informed him cheerfully that by using defense curl, he could double the power of a rollout attack. That would have to do. Rollout might be able to keep Discord protected long enough to do some damage. Elliot didn't notice anything new in Din's moves, so he'd just have to stick with the usual strategy of direct attacks. And Prowler...

That was odd. He was sure he'd seen her use bubble or bubblebeam, but that wasn't listed in her moves. Oh, it was a TM move they could learn, he found. That explained it.

Prowler's moves were pretty much the same as Din, but he figured she'd be able to do okay at the gym after seeing how well she'd fought the wild onix. Satisfied, he flipped the pokedex shut and looked around.

On the wall was a poster advertising the Pewter Museum. That sounded interesting. He decided to go there once his pokemon were healed.

The people around him were chattering, the same as it was in every other Pokemon Center.

"Look," someone was saying. "It can't all be a coincidence. Four missing all at once?"

"Oh, come on. The Viridian Gym's closed more often than it's open. Doesn't need to be something huge going on for that to happen."

"And the other three?"

"Who knows? Can't anyone take a break without you crying about the sky falling?"

"I didn't say that!"

"Then what are you saying?"

"Look, even if the Viridian Gym was closed for other reasons – well-trained psychic, poison and water types all off somewhere, and something going on up north of Cerulean if half the rumors are true. It's obvious what's going on!"

"Yeah, what?"

"A clefairy space ship! It's obvious!"

"Uh-huh. Because a space ship, that's the sort of thing you need a water type for."

A bell dinged. Elliot stood and retrieved his pokemon, then headed out.

-

-

Elliot looked at the museum. It was a big building, with a large double door and two huge stone pillars holding up an overhang at the top of the front steps.

Elliot had never been to a museum. He thought the building looked very museum-like, from what he'd seen on television, at least. He started up the stairs.

There was a girl standing at the top, on hand resting on the right stone pillar. She looked like she was seventeen or eighteen, much too old to be a trainer, although she was wearing a long coat that blocked any view of where a pokebelt would be, and she had a calm, almost melancholy expression.

"What are you doing?" Elliot asked.

She turned to him, looking slightly surprised. She must not have heard him approach. "I was just looking at the stonework," she said. "They replaced these recently." Her voice was soft, somewhat dreamy.

"Oh. Were the older ones too old? Falling apart?"

"They were too old." She sighed. "Beautiful work. I saw them years ago. They don't make things like that anymore. They could have lasted…centuries longer. But they were in the wrong style, not modern enough. So they smashed the old ones and had them replaced."

"Oh. That's too bad."

The girl's hand traced an almost invisible discoloration, a hairline crack. "Do you see this? The stone is flawed. Full of this. Before long, it'll break and have to be replaced. Cut and polished stone it like that. It shows its flaws." Her fingers traced another line. "If it isn't cut properly, cracks can be created. Finding a perfect piece of stone, cutting and polishing it properly, it's practically a lost art." She sighed again. "These won't last fifty years. I wonder, when they replace these, if they'll even bother to make the next pillars from rock."

Elliot didn't know what to say. After a moment he asked, "Are you from around here? You seem to know a lot."

"No," she said. "I'm not from around here. No one here knows how to work stone anymore. It's such a shame. All the people here can do now is hack apart the rock. No subtlety...but it's what happened to those who stayed." She sounded distantly amused.

"Where are you from, then?"

"Oh, off in the north," she said vaguely. "It's where my family lives." She smiled at him. "But this must not make much sense to you. You're lucky, you have no sense of history, and if the world is better or worse than before, you won't notice. Go on into the museum. It wouldn't do for you to be seen carrying on a conversation with the likes of me."

-

-

At the front desk to the right side of the door, Elliot handed the attendant 50 pen. He continued on into a wide room.

There were two large glass cases filling up the space, each holding strange-shaped bones. Elliot walked around the first, examining it carefully. It looked like a cross between a scyther and a flat stone, like one he'd use to skip across a pond. It was about as big as him. He read the blurb on the side.

_Kabutops_, it read. _A primitive pokemon that lived in the sea._

That didn't tell much, Elliot thought. He went to the next case.

It was...Elliot wasn't quite sure how to describe it. It had big wings and thick back legs, a little like a charizard, but it didn't have arms, just claws on the ends of its wings. Its head was huge and coarse, almost like a cross between a ponyta and a feraligator, and it had big, blunt-looking teeth. Elliot thought it looked ugly, deformed, and sorta...scary.

He read the information. _Aerodactyl_, it said. _An extinct prehistoric pokemon.__ Scientists are unsure if it flew or only glided._

Extinct pokemon...Elliot had never really thought about that. He wondered if the pokemon he'd read about in the burned journal had been one people had thought was extinct. It didn't really seem right for pokemon to just disappear...

Elliot looked back up at the winged thing nervously. Although, maybe it was okay for some pokemon to be gone.

There wasn't anything else there, so Elliot headed up the stairs. He saw a big model of a rocket and a flat glass case with a bunch of stones. The plaque by the rocket model informed him it was a replica of the first rocket to bring people to the moon.

The moon...Elliot thought back, trying to remember if he'd learned anything about it in school. He didn't think so. He knew people had landed on the moon, but couldn't remember ever having it explained to him. It was just sort of part of the world, like it'd always been that way. He wondered when it had happened, what had gone on then. Were they still sending people up? Elliot didn't think so, he'd have heard of that. But if they'd stopped, why?

He moved to the next display. A bunch of boring whitish-grey rocks. He looked around for the explanation. _Moon rocks_, he read. Well, that was a little more interesting...he glance back into the case. But they were still just rocks. They weren't letting out space viruses or mind control rays or radiation that turned the glass into a monster.

Elliot headed back down. On the ground floor, he saw a short man in a long white coat who looked like his idea of a scientist. The man rushed up to him.

"It's good to see a young person interested in learning," he said strongly, reaching out and shaking Elliot's hand. Elliot felt something hard and cold pressing into his palm.

"Wha..." Elliot started to say, but the desperate look in the man's eyes silenced him. He stared at Elliot for a moment silently, as if pleading for him not to ask the question.

When the moment passed without a sound, the man released his hand and walked off hurriedly.

Elliot didn't know what to do. After a moment, he continued out of the building.

Outside, he looked down at what was in his hand. It was a polished yellow-orange stone, with something black and spiky in the center. He glanced back at the museum doors. What was the big deal? He put it in his pocket and started off, looking for the gym.

-

-

The Pewter Gym, like some of the houses Elliot had seen, looked somehow rough-hewn, and it was blockier than the other gyms Elliot had seen, looking like it was built with a more utilitarian bent. The doors were large and square, made of a heavy grey metal. Elliot had to lean against the side of the door and push hard to get it open.

Once he'd widened the gap enough to squeeze through, he entered. It was dark inside, and when the lights suddenly snapped on after he'd gotten a few feet in, he took a started step backwards.

There was a boy, a lot older than Elliot, standing at the other side of the room. Between them was an arena, one with stones that looked like stalagmites seeming to come out of the floor. "So," he said, "you've come to challenge me?" He didn't wait for an answer. "We'll fight two on two. Agreed?"

"Okay," said Elliot, feeling relieved he wouldn't have to use Din. "Go, Discord!"

The gym leader looked decidedly unimpressed. "Geodude," he said, picking out a pokeball and throwing it. "Tackle."

"Uproar!" Elliot yelled, clapping his hands over his ears.

Discord inflated, opened his mouth, and began to produce a sound that was a strange mixture of a scream, bellow, and nails on a chalkboard.

The other boy yelled, covering his own ears and cringed, his eyes shutting. The geodude let out a cry of its own, stopping where it was.

"Great!" Elliot shouted over the noise. "Now use defense curl, then rollout!"

Discord flattened his arms and legs against his body and began to spin. He rolled toward the geodude. He struck it, knocking it back a few inches, then rolled away. He started to return for a second hit, his speed building.

"Tackle!"

The two pokemon collided. This time the impact knocked the geodude back several feet. Discord's spinning wasn't interrupted. He spun along the ground and started to head back to the geodude again.

"Try seismic toss, Geodude!"

The geodude reached out its hands as Discord barreled toward it, and managed to stop the jigglypuff and hold him back. But Discord continued to spin. The geodude, low-level and of not particularly hard composition, let out a deep cry as bits of its fingers began to crack off.

The fragments were too small to be seen by either trainer. The geodude shoved Discord away with a groan, and Discord spun away.

"Geodude! Seismic toss!" the Gym Leader ordered, sounding annoyed.

The geodude again grabbed Discord when he approached, and was again in a position akin to trying to hold a spinning drill between its hands. This time it executed the toss, throwing Discord against the stone floor and finally breaking the attack. One hand broke in the process, at the place that would be just below the wrist for something with bones and joints.

Rocks don't bleed. Still, it went against League protocol to leave a visibly maimed pokemon in the ring. It was recalled, replaced by a rhyhorn.

"Tackle," the Gym Leader ordered again.

Discord was smacked into the wall, bounced against the floor, and then into a rock. He groaned painfully and fainted.

Elliot recalled him and picked the next pokeball off his belt. "Go, Prowler!" he yelled, tossing the Ultraball.

She appeared, noticing the odd faux rocks of the gym. The rhyhorn in front of her she sized up, judging her chances.

Behind her Elliot was yelling something ridiculous about bubbles. She didn't need a distraction, not for this big thing.

She started to circle, watching his lumbering attempts to turn and keep facing her. She thought she might be able to take one or two hits by him safely, but he was obviously strong and even a single blow might be crippling.

She heard the second boy saying something to Elliot, his voice mocking. Deliberately, she turned to look over her shoulder at him, and the nervous rhyhorn charged.

Prowler slid out of his way and slashed at his side as he kept going, unable to check his momentum fast enough.

Rhyhorn would never be considered speedy, but they could get up to a decent speed given time and a straight line. They were at their worst in a situation that required them to keep changing direction, as they were unable to keep up and their attempts to do so only wore them out fast.

She flexed the muscles in her paws, sheathing and unsheathing her claws. She focused, seeing a shine behind her eyes, imagining the transmutation. It wasn't easy to do, not as automatic as just clawing and biting, or with as much room for varying levels of skill like her bubbles.

She had only used the attack once before, the time outside the familiar almost-mountain. But she had seen it before. She focused.

The other boy yelled an attack name she hadn't heard before, and the rhyhorn tossed his head, throwing one of the rocks at her. She jumped out of the way easily. He kept going, smashing the fake rocks and throwing them. They weren't hard to dodge but she watched carefully – to be hit by one of those would hurt.

It didn't take the rhyhorn long to finish pulverizing the rocks, leaving only gravelly fragments and the hard flat substance of the floor.

"Take down!"

She twisted to the side, clawing him across the face and tearing off one eye. The rhyhorn screamed, maddened, and he tossed his head with surprising speed, the horn clipping her side. The blow shook her but wasn't enough to slow her down.

The rhyhorn was blind on one side now. She slid in, slashing at his side, tearing off chucks of his armor until one leg gave. He was still dangerous, even like that, and he struggled, trying to hit her with his horn. It would be hard to finish it –

- And so she was surprised when the dark grey turned red and the pokemon sucked back into the ball.

Elliot noticed the Gym Leader's face looked perfectly cordial, even somewhat respectfully impressed, as he handed over the Boulder Badge. But he also had a strange distant look, as if he were already thinking about something to come and was wrapped up in the planning.

-

-

While Elliot was heading back to the Pokemon Center, a trainer challenged him to a three-on-three match.

Din lost the first battle, against a victreebel. Sono finished it off and made a good attempt against the next pokemon, an undersized arbok, before fainting. Elliot picked Prowler.

The arbok was young, perhaps newly evolved. She was of decent strength. Prowler fought her for only a short time before a slash left a long bloody line on the snake's back and it vanished into the trainer's Greatball. She picked another and threw it.

A towering brown giant appeared. Elliot pulled out his pokedex and pointed it.

Prowler darted forward and slashed at one ankle as the pokedex reported the thing to be a ursaring. The ursaring snarled and swatted at her, faster than Elliot expected. Prowler was tossed back, flying through the air. Elliot thought for a moment it was over, but then she twisted and managed to land on her feet. The two pokemon stared at each other.

"Dynamic punch!" the girl yelled.

The ursaring growled and swung a paw at Prowler, who dodged. The thunder and fire punches she dodged as well, forewarned by the trainer.

"Faint attack," the girl said. The ursaring vanished and then Prowler felt something huge smash into her side. She slashed at it reflectively, hitting the pokemon full in the face.

Prowler managed to stand. The ursaring had her paws over her face, and Prowler could hear wordless, pained moans. The ursaring recovered after a second, dropping her arms to hang loosely by her sides. She was in better condition than Prowler, with only two shallow if painful cuts.

Prowler had fought a ursaring before. It had been strong then as well. She remembered the sickening crack when it had hit...

This one wasn't nearly that strong, but there was no one to help her, just a boy who wasn't more than a kitten.

The other trainer looked past the fight to Elliot. "Looks like it's a draw," she said. "Let's call it a tie."

"Oh-okay," Elliot said.

The ursaring lumbered back. Prowler didn't understand, but she mirrored the action, limping back to Elliot. He petted her head irritatingly, but she tolerated it.

"Your persian's pretty good," the girl said. "Much faster than Constella."

"Your ursaring's a really good fighter, really strong," Elliot replied.

The girl nodded. Elliot had the sudden, irrational thought that what was happening seemed almost scripted, a scene out of a show where it was obvious to everyone but the characters what it was leading up to. "I've been training him for more than a year now.

"Hey," she said suddenly, as if the thought had just occurred to her. "Why don't we trade pokemon? My ursaring for your persian?"

The whole thing had a weird feeling of deja vu to it, as if he was hearing the words before she said them. He was left dumb as she spoke, her voice like an echo.

He recovered. "No," he said. "I couldn't." He reached down to touch the fur on Prowler's back.

The girl looked like it was no big deal, but somehow, she also looked a tiny bit disappointed and...relieved. Maybe he was just imagining that, though.

-

-

Back at the Pokemon Center, Elliot gave the Nurse Joy his pokemon again and sat down to wait. He felt the hard stone in his pocket and pulled it out, turning it over between his fingers idly. He had no idea what it was. The pokedex was able to analyze some items, so he decided to try that.

"Amber," the pokedex reported. "The fossilized remains of tree sap. Pure forms are typically desired, as they are used in making jewelry, but some scientists are interested in amber that has managed to entrap insects within it, in the hopes that they might be able to extract the DNA and revive ancient pokemon."

Cool, Elliot thought. He looked at the stone again. That thing in the center might be an insect, although he couldn't be sure. He transferred it to a pouch in his bag and then went over to the videophones, calling home.

He told his mother where he was and about the gym fight. She told him how proud this all made her, and then suggested he visit home, since he was so near. "It'd be good for Merci to see you," she told him, "after you've been gone so long."

-

-

"Yeah," the boy said, recalling his electrode. "I guess trading pokemon is pretty popular around here."

The trainer was the third who had offered to trade a pokemon for Prowler. The explanation reassured him for a moment, but then he thought to himself how odd it was that so many formidable trainers, who all seemed so experienced, would be living in Pewter.

-

-

"You lost?"

"I had no idea he'd gotten so far. It wasn't like I was warned someone would be coming. He looked like he'd just started. He used a jigglypuff!"

"Yet you lost."

"I wasn't expecting the second pokemon to be so strong. And that persian still shouldn't have won. If I didn't know better I'd think it had used metal claw."


	29. What Shouldn't Have Happened

Nearing the end at last…

Well, sort of. I didn't really expect the story to be so long (although now that I look back, I really should've realized). At almost thirty chapters, I think this story's gotten long enough…**but**, I've still got way more stuff to deal with – I've only done Kanto, after all! I'm thinking of ending this one and starting a sequel rather than adding ten thousand more chapters to this story. Or not, who knows? I really haven't decided.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Nine: What Shouldn't Have Happened

-

It was chance.

Had he not delayed, had he delayed longer, it would not have happened.

The building had been closed. It was closed often. Had this not been true, or perhaps had it not been so chronically true, or, for that matter, had the resultant complaints not finally been addressed, it would not have been open then with a junior trainer in charge.

This would have been true for only a short period, a short, short window of time, so short that the odds of any one trainer happening to be there then were almost nonexistent.

And had he not heard from others that the building was usually closed, perhaps he would not have delayed, and the window would have been missed. Or had a single phone call not occurred.

It was chance. And perhaps, even if the event, the one that should not have occurred, had been avoided, perhaps, the final end would have resulted. Perhaps it was inevitable, in its own way.

Still, what was preventable and what was not, these are very important. Because amid all the shifting of blame, one thing is agreed upon by all.

What had happened should not have.

-

-

Elliot knocked on the door. After a moment, his mother opened it. She instantly flung her arms around him and enveloped him in a smothering hug.

"It's so good to see you," she said when she released him. "I can't believe how much you've grown!" She ushered him inside.

Merci tramped down the stairs. She was wearing a slightly too-large shirt, the front pulled down severely enough to give it the look of a plunging neckline. She looked as if she had a severe potbelly. A very lumpy, angular one that kept twitching. She giggled. The lump flatted somewhat and a meowth's head appeared at the neckline.

"Merci, you're stretching your shirt," Elliot's mother said.

Merci pulled the meowth out through the neck. "Caniseeyourpokemon?" she said, jumping up and down with the meowth in her arms. He took this calmly, no doubt used to it. "Canicani?"

"In the backyard," their mother said firmly.

Outside, Merci set the fidgeting meowth down as Elliot opened up his pokeballs.

All of them save Prowler looked around. She reacted instantly, sliding herself between Din and the meowth and watching him warily.

Merci looked at the six, her eyes wide. "Wow!" she yelled. "A jigglpuff and a murkrow and a, a, a my-yena!"

"Mightyena," Elliot said.

((Hi!)) the meowth said, his voice tiny and babyish. He purred, running up to Prowler and rubbing against her chest. She didn't react. After a moment the kitten pulled back, looking devastated. He made a mewling whimper.

Blankly, Prowler bent and licked the top of his head. He quieted, rubbing up against her chin.

"I named him Fluffy," Merci said. "Isn't that a great name?"

"Yeah," Elliot said insincerely.

He had the pokemon show off to Merci one by one, the others playing around the backyard. Prowler didn't take part. She butted curtly against Din's side and the mightyena, feeling hurt, took the hint and went elsewhere. She then remained by the meowth, looking oddly resigned, until Elliot's mother told him to come in and eat lunch and they were all recalled.

-

-

"Hi Anthony," Elliot said.

"Hey," Anthony said. "Back for good or is this just a visit?"

"Just a visit."

"Oh...hey, did you see the Pokemon League battles?"

Elliot shook his head. "'Fraid not. I'd left Cerulean when they started, and then I forgot about them in Pewter, so I didn't see the last ones."

"Pewter? So…"

"Yeah, I got the seventh badge." Elliot felt somewhat uncomfortable. "So what have you been doing?"

"Well, back in school, of course. Mom says I should be a doctor, but I don't think so. My sister's been running all over the place with her clefairy – she named the poor thing Stary-dusty – and she's been talking about how she's going to be the bestest trainer ever. Oh – the gastly you gave me's been real fun. It's so weird, you can be touching it one moment and then your hand slides right through! I've been reading up on them in pokemon books." He paused for a moment. "Oh yeah, and I finally got a gamecube. Mom won't let me spend most of the money, but she let me get that."

"Money?" Elliot asked.

"Oh, right, I didn't tell you. Well, I wasn't going to be able to train my pokemon anymore, since I wasn't a trainer, so I sold them. Some other trainer's got them now, I guess."

Elliot had never thought of what he'd do once he stopped training pokemon. "Oh. I never heard about that before."

"Yeah, I guess it's not really a big thing. One of the Nurse Joys mentioned it to me when she heard I was stopping. There's some company or something that buys them to be distributed again. I got a ton of money, enough for almost four gamecubes, so Mom let me get one as long as I put the rest of it in the bank."

-

-

It was two days before Elliot left. He wasn't in any hurry, he thought. After all, the Viridian Gym was probably still closed, so he'd have to wait around there for a while. Remembering again the Officer Jenny and the wall, he tried to go west, but wound up in brambles and hedges and again decided it wasn't worth the effort. He arrived in Viridian shortly, and headed to the Pokemon Center to heal his pokemon.

There, he heard from a trainer that the Viridian Gym was finally reopened, and he rushed there immediately.

He was stopped at the gate by a pair of giant guards, each well over six feet, who informed him a battle was already in progress and he couldn't enter. They told him to come back later.

Elliot started to leave, but then remembered he had no way of knowing when the battle would end, and if he came back too late, another trainer might go in. So he sat down on a bench under a tree nearby and waited, boredly examining the amber, leafing through the charred journal, and listening to his pokedex tell him useful things about ground types such as "they are weak against water" and "don't use fire types against them". He might have gotten sick of it and wandered off had he not seen a couple other trainers approach the gym while he waited.

When a trainer finally stepped out the doors Elliot jumped to his feet and ran inside. The doors clanged shut behind him with a sound that might have sounded ominous had he been paying attention.

The gym was massive, with an unusually high ceiling, or perhaps it only seemed that way from the lights. They were located about a third of the way down and were incredibly bright, practically floodlights. They served to illuminate the center of the arena clearly, but seemed to only deepen the shadows above them and in the corners of the building. The other trainer was standing on a raised platform in front of him, so high up that the shine from the lights only reached his chest. From what Elliot could see, he looked like he was an adult, anywhere from his early twenties to late thirties. There was a big metal door under where he was standing, and Elliot wondered what might come out of there.

"The battle will be three on three," the man said, picking a pokeball.

Elliot grabbed Caw's Greatball. He'd decided to start with the murkrow because he figured it'd be best to try a pokemon who was immune to ground attacks first. That way, it was unlikely Caw would get knocked out quick, and he'd be able to see the sort of pokemon that were used.

The other pokeball opened, and the white light formed into a tauros.

"Use swift, Caw!" Elliot ordered. The murkrow beat his wings, sending a flurry of tiny glowing stars at the tauros. It snorted, tossing its head and pawing the ground.

"Ice beam!" the other trainer ordered.

The grey charm in the center of the tauros' forehead glowed, and a beam shot out from between its horns. At the last instant Caw shielded himself with his wings and glowed faintly. When the attack faded he remained in the air, wings beating raggedly.

Caw had only been to this gym a few times. Although the trainer giving the orders was not the one he'd seen before, he knew how hard the battles here were.

The tauros had barely been injured. He wasn't supposed to…But he was certain his trainer wouldn't be able to take down three pokemon with two of his. The persian wouldn't be able to take out three by herself, she'd be lucky to get one, and he doubted any of the others could do as much. Besides, it wasn't easily identified by sight

He focused, remembering the feeling of the attack hitting, and dove at the tauros. He could almost see the trainer's face in his mind – shocked but trying to hide it – as the tauros was smashed backwards, to bang into the metal doors beneath the platform. It struggled to stand back up and failed.

The other trainer recalled it and sent out a donphan. "Rollout!" he ordered, sounding annoyed.

The donphan rolled around on the floor, spinning progressively faster, then launched into the air. Caw, exhausted, was unable to dodge. He was crushed against the wall. His last thought before fainting was one of grim satisfaction.

Elliot thought. Donphan was a normal type like tauros, wasn't it? He picked Howler's pokeball. Probably wasn't the smartest move in a ground-type gym, but he didn't think Din was as strong, and Discord and Sono definitely couldn't fight something like that. "Go!" he yelled. "Flamethrower, Howler!"

The donphan was knocked over by the blast, the rollout attack stopped. It stood up, wincing, and Elliot could see that its right side, where the attack had hit, was blackened. It must have been burned. That was lucky. He glanced at the trainer, expecting a recall.

"Earthquake!" the other trainer shouted.

Uh-oh, Elliot thought as the ground under Howler smashed upward, the hard floor breaking apart. Howler whined, managing to stand back up.

"Now, take down!"

The donphan charged.

"Quick, another flamethrower!"

Howler obeyed, but the attack had only just begun by the time the donphan barreled into him. He collapsed, and Elliot recalled him.

"Go, Prowler!" Elliot ordered. "Use slash!"

She ignored him as usual. She noticed with interest the way the ground was broken apart, and saw the strange pokemon across from her that she didn't recognize. She took a moment to listen, hearing his name.

She could smell something like charred earth and flesh, and saw he was burned on one side. He turned to face her, and she saw he was slow, and made slower by the injury.

"Rock slide!"

He tossed one of the broken flat slabs on the ground at her, surprisingly fast. She just managed to dodge, the stone grazing one back leg. He continued to toss, and she darted around the arena, keeping her distance. Once he had thrown all there was around him, she moved closer again, circling and slashing at his injured side. He let out a cry of pain and tossed her away. She managed to land on her feet, her side aching, then ran at him again, jumping on his back and tearing at him. It took a moment before he managed to wrap his trunk around her foreleg and toss her off.

She stumbled, her leg feeling like it was aflame at the joint. He'd twisted it in the toss. The trainer yelled and then the ground underneath her rose up and hit her. She struggled back to her feet and lunged for the donphan again, this time tearing off the strange leathery flesh protecting his back. She sank her teeth into this space, and then the donphan vanished.

The trainer selected the third pokemon, and threw it. A nidoqueen appeared.

Prowler's eyes widened. She screamed and attacked, leaping onto the poison type and ripping furiously, her hind claws snapping as she dug them into the monster's belly and tore, her teeth in the neck as blood spurted and splattered. When this one turned entirely red and into nothing she fell to the ground and began to struggle to stand. A moment later she vanished as well.

Elliot had won.


	30. Decisions

Negrek – Well, it's actually a bit easier to explain most of the stuff than you might think (all of the stuff I've got I've already got a big, major reason for). It's just very, very hard to get Elliot in the right place to figure it out is all :) Second to last chapter should set it up, last chapter gives the overriding explanation. (Even so I admit there's a bunch of stuff that can't be exactly explained, only hinted at, at least, within this story…)

PyroArts – That would certainly explain why Prowler hates nidoqueen, but who knows? Caw's pretty certain that it isn't possible for persian to live around siblings, and Prowler does have that odd head injury.

* * *

Chapter Thirty: Decisions

-

So now what?

_'So now what'_ was not exactly what Elliot had expected he'd be thinking after getting the eight badge. He'd thought he'd be buried in fame, head straight to the Plateau and after a string of marvelous battles where not a single pokemon of his fainted, become victorious.

The idea that he might just miss the year's tournament had never occurred to him and the prospect of waiting a whole year until the next one didn't thrill him. What was he supposed to do now? Just travel around and train?

He could go back home.

The thought seemed to come out of nowhere. But it was true. He'd gotten eight badges, no one would think he was a failure or a wimp for going back now.

But…to go back home without even trying at the Plateau? After all the work he'd done, everything he'd had to go through to get the badges? And how could he explain it, really? To drop out now…quit while he was ahead.

Go home. Back to a tiny little place where nothing ever happened, back to school, acting like everything was the same as before.

He…

-

-

At the Center, Elliot heard trainers discussing a large tournament taking place well up north, further up even than Pewter, actually in the mountains there rather than nestled just below. It occurred to him he hadn't fought in a tournament since Michael had brought him to Saffron, and he shook off the memory of the ninetales flying into the wall. That had been just a fluke. Anyway, going to tournaments was something else trainers did, and the great ones in stories, they always won in tournaments, didn't they? Maybe not always at first, but they did in the end.

And…it would mean he had a goal, a place he was heading toward again.

-

-

Elliot followed the path he'd been directed toward, a thin, narrow strip that wove around the uneven ground. He was going by a map he'd been sold in the town before, at the base of the mountains. The town he was going to wasn't too far up further, well within a day's walk, although for some reason the Nurse Joy had been adamant he start in the morning rather than headed out yesterday afternoon after he'd healed his pokemon.

The place looked a little odd, he thought, strangely like the parks in cities, with trees that were just a little thinner and possessing slightly scragglier branches, and nearly invisible marks that looked like faint, ghostly versions of the trimming scars on park trees. Every now and then he saw a rock poking from the ground of the path, small ones that were sometimes not smooth and round. The grass was as thin as in parks and schoolyards, and sometimes there were twigs on the ground, like those places.

The walk was uphill, the ground imperceptibly harder than usual, something Elliot noticed only indirectly as he grew tired. By the time he got to the town, he was grateful for the chance to rest.

-

-

Elliot examined the board, looking for his match. He found in on the left side, around the middle. He was up against another boy, who couldn't have been more than a few months older.

"Dammit!" a boy burst out on the right, his voice a muffled shout, that of someone who wants to yell but is biting it back. "Dammit!"

"Quiet," the girl next to him hissed, looking around.

"Dammit!" the boy said again. He looked like he was thirteen or fourteen. "Every time, every damn time." His hand flung up wildly toward the board. "We're all on one side and the stupid cheri are on the other. Dammit! You know what's going to happen!"

No one else seemed to have noticed the outburst, or if they did, they were ignoring it.

"Quiet," the girl hissed again. "You want more trouble than you've got?"

-

-

Elliot was oddly far along in the tournament, at least, compared to how he'd done last time and his usual battles, but he imagined this was because of his achievements and training. He'd completed the gyms of Kanto, that must have meant something, after all.

Discord had fainted early, with Sono and Din soon following. Howler had kept up longer but ultimately fainted.

The battle began. He chose a pokeball.

"-Ler!"

Prowler found herself somewhere grassy. Before her was a persian.

She flattened down, tucking her tail against her side, her ears back and teeth barred. He took her appearance no different than that of any other pokemon.

"Use slash!" Elliot ordered behind her, his voice meaningless.

She was slowly backing away. Her fur was puffed, but she was bunching up, compressing into herself.

"Prowler?" He was confused, she could hear it in his voice but she was barely aware of it.

"What's wrong?"

The other trainer, wisely, had ordered no attack.

She kept backing away. He tried to circle her, find a way to attack that wasn't guarded by fangs – she moved, kept herself facing him as she shrank away.

"Return."

-

-

Outside the stadium, after losing – the other persian had fallen to Caw, barely, and the following pidgeot had knocked him out quickly – Elliot released Prowler again.

"Prowler, what was wrong? Why were you so scared?" Elliot asked.

((I wasn't.)) She didn't know how to explain. It was.

"You don't need to be scared. Just because you weren't the strongest fighter in your family when you were younger doesn't mean all persian are stronger," Elliot said, guessing on what little she'd said to him and on overheard half-conversations with Din and the other pokemon. He really didn't know who to believe, her or Caw, but didn't see any point in arguing with it.

((He wasn't stronger than me,)) she said. ((That doesn't matter, anyway.))

"You looked scared," Elliot said. "You were trying to get away."

((I would have run if I wanted to get away. I just didn't want him to attack me.))

"Why?"

((Because you don't fight with brothers.))

"You knew him? He was-"

She shook her head, a strange motion she'd learned from him. ((No.))

"But you just said…"

((He was he. A brother. You can't fight with brothers.))

"Why?"

((Because it is wrong.))

"But why?"

She didn't answer for a moment. Then she jumped up, putting her paws on his shoulders so they were face to face. She stared at him seriously. ((The brothers mustn't be hurt,)) she said quietly. She purred, as if trying to comfort him, and licked his nose. ((Don't worry,)) she said. ((If he would have hurt you, I would fight.))

-

-

Elliot headed back inside to watch the rest of the tournament from the stands. He hadn't really understood what Prowler meant – it had seemed like she was willing to fight with the persian they met months ago in Vermillion, and she'd seemed so aggressive to the kitten his sister had found, but…well, he just wouldn't use her against persian. It didn't really matter why. She was his friend, and it wouldn't be right to use her if she didn't want to fight.

The battles were a bit odd somehow. He remembered the boy who was so upset before. He'd said something, about cheri on one side. And, it was odd, but, it seemed like, all of the older trainers were all fighting each other, and all of the younger trainers were fighting each other. There were a couple of older trainers who were on what would be considered the left half, though, fighting with younger trainers, and one or two younger trainers, eleven or so, on the right half, so it must have just been coincidence, Elliot thought. Besides, it didn't really matter, right?

The battles started to get up to the top. A trainer was battling using one of the helmeted psyduck – Elliot had felt a little unsettled when he'd seen it, but nothing bad had happened, it was just strong, able to sweep through the other trainer's pokemon when it was out. It must have been pretty high level, he thought. But then, its trainer always saved it until last, so that it only went up against weakened pokemon or one strong remainder. Sweeps like that weren't strange, just showing good strategy.

Then, during one of the battles, it happened.

The psyduck glowed. Its form began to stretch. Elliot watched, entranced, as the pokemon evolved.

It screamed, the first sound Elliot had ever heard one of the helmeted psyduck make. Half-formed hands clawed at its head. When the light faded it collapsed on the ground, its head split apart.

-

-

"I'm afraid there's nothing that can be done," the Joy said.

"My pokemon is dead?"

"It's comatose. The brain damage is too extensive. You won't be able to use it again."

"Oh…"

"There's nothing that can be done," she repeated. "You'll need to get another pokemon. It will need to be put down."

"Put down? But-"

"It's useless," the Joy said. "It needs to be put down."

"Alright…" the boy said slowly. The Joy turned to go.

"Hey, wait," Elliot said, without thinking. They looked at him. "I-I'll take it."

"You won't be able to use it," she said.

"I understand. I'll take it."

The other boy looked grateful. The Nurse Joy handed Elliot the pokeball.

"You'll need to exchange one pokemon," she told him. "As you can't carry more than six."

Elliot nodded, pulling off Sono's pokeball and handing it over.

-

-

Elliot had acted without thinking. Now he sat quietly up in bed, staring into the dark and thinking about what he was going to do.

The golduck was horribly injured – he didn't need to be a breeder or watcher to notice that. It had just seemed…wrong to just kill it then. But what was he supposed to do if the Nurse Joy wasn't even able to help it?

But this sort of thing had happened before, hadn't it? Gabrielle had shown him her ponyta. He could almost hear her voice as she told him the story. He could bring the golduck to Bill.

He climbed out of bed, bare feet touching the carpet with a sensation of almost surprise after all the time he'd spent getting up to dewy grass. He pulled open his bag and unfolded the map, flicking the lamp on.

He was up north of Mt. Moon now, although a bit to the west of it. He could go through it the normal way, but he'd have to backtrack pretty far, not just going south but west as well. It'd be easier to try to hike through the mountains, he thought, tracing the path with one finger. It was a shorter distance, almost straight west to get to the lighthouse, and just a little bit further north. He'd gone through a mountain range before, the one that separated the towns and cities near the border of Johto from the rest of the Kanto region, and it hadn't been hard.

He folded the map up again and replaced it in his bag, turned the light off, and went to sleep.

-

-

He was already regretting his decision by ten o'clock that morning. His legs didn't seem to have completely recovered from the walk to the town, and the path seemed to only be getting worse. There were stones all over the ground now, and the dirt was getting thin. He had to be careful where he stepped because the rocks would shift under his feet, like they were trying to make him fall. The Nurse Joy had told him not to go this way, that the paths weren't being taken care of any more, but they'd been on the map and when he'd started out it'd seemed okay.

It wasn't just the ground either. The trees were looking really, really weird – sick, almost, all stretched out and with way too many branches, all of which looked so thin he couldn't believe they could really hold themselves up. Some trees, he realized, even had broken, jutting remains of where there had been branches. Were they going to fall on him as he walked? They didn't have thick leaves either – or maybe it looked like that because of the angle, most of their leaves seemed to be concentrated at the top. They were all different sizes too, and as he walked, some of the littler ones started sticking their branches out onto the path, making him shove past them. And there were really weird things that were like a cross between a bush and a tree, low down with twisty stems but with thicker, upward branches and leaves that weren't so close together and were only on the top. And he didn't see any normal bushes at all. He pushed past one thing that looked almost like a vine from a jungle picturebook and yelped because it had jabbed into his hand somehow, drawing blood that oozed out of his palm. Elliot had thought it had bit him or something at first, that it was a grass pokemon, but when he looked closer he realized it had spiky things all over it for some reason.

And, it was like there was no flat clear space except the path. Elliot didn't see anywhere clear he could walk into – everything was covered by woody plants and not-woody-enough little trees and bigger trees. Stuff was weirdly brown too, with old fallen leaves on the ground and so much of the plants exposed rather than covered in leaves. Plus, where there was green, a lot of it was weird plants – like a green carpet-like thing growing on an old fallen tree trunk, really old, falling apart even, and another think that looked sorta like a fan made of dyed green pidgeotto feathers growing out of the ground.

Weird, weird weird. Elliot was wondering to himself why all of this was.

And then two men stepped out in front of him, onto the path.

"Hey kid."

Elliot felt as if he was rooted in place. His eyes darted from side to side helplessly. This couldn't be – how – how could they be standing there in broad daylight like they were real?

"Hand over your – hey!"

Elliot had turned and run, leaping off the path into the strange sort of plants, ignoring as the branches clawed at him. The men stared in surprise for a moment, shocked, but then recovered and gave chase.

* * *

Three more chapters to go… 

Next chapter: Elliot really should have known better than to run when he was having trouble just walking on the path…and why are both Caw and Prowler worried about what might be in the mountains? And why isn't anything working?


	31. Disagreements, Anxieties, Oddness

Sorry this chapter's a day late, I didn't have time to write it this week and wound up doing the whole thing on Saturday.

Negrek – Well, Elliot won't have the golduck for too long, so he'll get Sono back in a couple of chapters (but that does mean she'll be pretty much sitting out the end of the story. Poor Sono. But it wouldn't have been fair to turn in Discord again, and Elliot likes having Howler around). And you're so suspicious of the Nurse Joys! They've never given back a 'dead' pokemon – Michael threw a fit when his pokemon was reported as 'critically injured' and this time the Nurse Joy was only saying it needed to be put down. (Whether or not that Nurse Joy is now regretting not lying and saying it was already dead…I'll leave you to guess)

Sunlight – I'm glad to hear you like the mystery. As to Elliot winning his badges easily…they are always pretty close, and could often have gone either way. But then, perhaps _that's_ suspiciously easy. Michael did tell him to fight certain gym leaders first for whatever reason. Explanations are forthcoming…but not quite yet! :)

* * *

Chapter Thirtyone: Disagreements, Anxieties, Oddness

-

In a jumble of underbrush, in a quiet forest, a Greatball suddenly began to twitch, then broke open. Caw materialized.

Caw had been kept in that ball for a long time, and he'd become so used to it he'd learned to sense the passing of time, even sometimes a vague idea of what was outside. He had also learned to open it himself, although he did so rarely, only at times like this when he sensed something was wrong.

Elliot was lying awkwardly on the ground. The blood on his head had dried into a mass only somewhat darker than his brown hair. His eyes were closed and his skin was pasty with red scrapes, but he was breathing.

Caw looked around. They were at the bottom of a ravine, and looking up, he could see exposed ground right by the top where Elliot had stepped, slipped, and removed the leaf cover when his feet had been. He'd no doubt rolled through the starved, dwarfish bushes on his way down, slowing his fall, and the plants at the bottom had cushioned him somewhat. The ground under the murkrow's feet was somewhat wet and spongy, but as a flying type, he didn't think anything of it.

Flapping his wings enough to reach the top of the ravine, Caw was rewarded by seeing more of the same. Forest in all directions, without so much as a thin dirt path. It would take him a while to get to the nearest town, and longer still for anyone to return. And as a murkrow, he'd had a lot of trouble attracting anyone's attention, at least positively. He considered bringing Elliot's pokedex or another item, but that would just be written off as something he'd stolen. The murkrow wished suddenly that the people of Kanto had made at least one trainer gadget that was not bright and shiny. And even in Kanto, people wouldn't be very tolerant of a murkrow, especially not trainers who saw him carrying something that looked like he'd stolen from another trainer. They tended to be annoyed by that. No, going to a town would just result in him being captured and – if he was lucky – being given to someone new.

Sono's pokeball was missing. Caw doubted the spearow would have been able to fly the distance anyway, and certainly couldn't have carried anything to show she was trained. Elliot's other pokemon walked, so it was certain they'd take far too long – if they got there at all. There was one pokeball Caw didn't recognize, but he didn't want to try opening it. It might only make things worse.

No other choice, than. He pecked one of the balls around Elliot's waist, an Ultraball, twice, and was smacked through the bushes a second later.

Prowler glanced around to orient herself, and her eyes immediately caught on Elliot. Her head whipped back towards the murkrow.

((I did nothing,)) Caw said from a treebranch. He was perching close to the trunk where the branch was thickest, uncomfortably aware that he might not be able to get airborne if she tried to climb. ((Look around. He slipped down, into this gully.))

Prowler looked around again, then back to the boy. She didn't relax. She also noticed the cold wetness of the ground, and unlike Caw, she found it significant.

((Can you carry him?)) Caw asked.

((No,)) Prowler said flatly. She lifted one paw as if considering walking, then set it down again. She looked at him again. ((Bird. Look for a flat place with two hills meeting. Where the ground is higher up than this.))

((What? No, we don't have time for tat. We need to get him back to the town he came from. He needs help.))

((_I_ am help,)) Prowler said. ((Bird. Go and find a flat place with two hills meeting. A place with three sides and dry ground.)) He didn't move. ((Go!))

Caw considered. There was nothing he could do. He wasn't a trainer, the other pokemon wouldn't listen to him, and besides, they weren't big enough to move him. He doubted Prowler's idea would do anything for Elliot, but arguing here wasn't doing anything either. After a moment, he beat his wings and flew off.

He returned shortly, finding Elliot had been moved somewhat, up slightly onto the side rather than remaining in the center. From the way the plants were crushed, it was clear Prowler had dragged him up. He was annoyed she had moved him so pointlessly. He knew it was bad to move the injured, although he accepted it as necessary if they were to get him back to a town. But moving Elliot just so she didn't have to stand in the water was selfish. He considered saying as much but realized that until Elliot woke, there wasn't anything he could do.

((I found a place,)) Caw said.

((Show me,)) Prowler said. She forced her head under Elliot, undulating her neck to slide him backward until she managed to get him balanced on her back.

((So you can carry him,)) Caw said, annoyed. ((What were you waiting for, then? Bring him up the slope and see if you can smell the way back to the road.))

((Stupid Bird. Where is the place?))

((No! You can carry him, bring him to the town! He needs-))

((To fall off my back until his neck breaks? Or would you rather I dragged him until his flesh sloughed off his bones? I can't bring him where you want, he'll have to walk it himself. Now. Show me or I'll find it myself.))

Caw did.

-

-

The place he brought her to was not the best – flying types rarely thought much about the subtleties of terrain – but it would work well enough. The ground was sandy and dry, the thinner plants allowing more light in, and, if Elliot was lucky, the unknown time he'd spent already lying in the cold, wet, shaded gully wouldn't kill him. The hills were larger than she had meant – trust a flying type human-wishing Bird to take her too literally and look for something big enough for the humans to give a name, she thought blackly. But they met and formed a space that was deeper than wide, a three-sided, narrow, v-shaped wall of dirt. A human, like Prowler, who was experienced in the matter would consider it halfway done for the construction of a temporary place to live. But they would think immediately towards trying to put something over the top. Human adaptations were often geared towards adding to existing things, building more onto what they started with.

Prowler, instead, nosed the Premierball still around Elliot's waist, then directed Din to help her carve out a hole in the hill. Prowler was not practiced at this, and she had never attempted to dig out a hole rather than enlarge an existing one. Still, she was competent enough and did know how to do it. Din had never dug anything but was still better than nothing.

Before it was dark they had excavated a hollow in the sandy soil of the hill, and Prowler stuffed Elliot into this, snarling at Howler, whose pokeball Caw had opened earlier and who had been lying by Elliot's side while the other two worked.

((A fire,)) Caw said. He'd been complaining about that for well over an hour, Prowler thought, irritated. ((We need a fire.))

((No fire.)) Prowler's voice was flat and uncompromising.

((The boy is injured. It will be night soon.))

((No fire,)) Prowler said again. She snarled at Howler again as he tried to get past her to approach Elliot, and the growlithe whimpered and backed away, tail tucked between his legs.

The disrespect toward the growlithe infuriated Caw, but there was still nothing he could do. A fight with Prowler would help nothing, and might well end with him dead. He wondered distractedly if the persian would eat him or if she would only leave him to rot. Not the sort of question he should ask, he knew. And he couldn't afford to get into another argument. He had to convince her of this.

((Scared, persian?))

((Fire brings things,)) Prowler said through a mouthful of hair. She was trying to lick the blood off of Elliot.

This was not the answer he had been expecting. Nor was it one that made sense. ((You've never minded leaving him before,)) Caw said, an accusing tone creeping into his voice.

((He is asleep and smells like blood. There is only her and a little spearow and a puffball and a malformed thing and a damned bird here. Things come.)) She looked out into the forest.

Caw did not correct her about Sono. It wouldn't help his case. ((There's nothing out there,)) he said.

((This is not your place, Bird. This is not your cities or your strange false forests and mountains and there are not your humans here. There are things. No fire.))

((What do you think is here?)) Caw demanded, his voice rising louder. ((You've gone out nightly, you know there's nothing there that could beat either of us and it wouldn't attack a human even if it did! You've going to kill him over your own insane fears!))

((If there had been a fire…)) Prowler trailed off. ((I was here. I know. I wasn't the only thing here. There are worse things. And we, we wouldn't have left him if we smelled him. We knew of humans, knew at least enough that we would kill them had we met any.))

Caw digested this. He had heard – the sort of trainers who hid here wouldn't tolerate intruders. But they were close to a town. ((Trainers like that wouldn't be this close to people,)) Caw told her.

((What trainers?))

((Ones like yours. Gen trainers, fallers.))

Prowler hissed angrily. ((I had no trainer.))

((Don't be stupid, persian! Don't you get it? There are no groups of persian! None! There never have and there never will be! There have never been persian and there have never been wilds who hunted humans and the only thing we had to fear are the fallers who live away from the cities!))

Prowler turned away from him and returned to her licking.

((Don't you understand?)) the murkrow screamed at her. ((It's not true! There are no wild persian packs and dangerous things you won't name! There is no place there aren't trainers and there never has been, do you understand? The fallers are the only danger there has ever been and they would never be this close to a town!))

Prowler ignored him.

-

-

When Elliot woke up he found himself somewhere gritty and dark. As his eyes focused he discovered he was in a shallow dirt cave, with Howler lying at his side between him and the outside air. Almost as soon as he realized this Howler realized he was awake and began happily licking his face.

He pushed past the growlithe and crawled out. His head ached, and touching it gingerly he felt a hard scab and a big, sore lump. His back hurt as well, probably because he'd been lying with his backpack on. Outside was Prowler, facing away from him into the forest, and after a few seconds he managed to pick out Caw's form on a tree branch a bit of a ways off. Din ran into his line of sight a moment later, her tail wagging when she saw him.

((You shouldn't have come here,)) Prowler said. Her neck turned and she regarded him over her shoulder.

Caw flapped down to land on the ground near him. ((I agree,)) he said. ((Why did you do this? Don't you understand how dangerous it is here?))

"I-I didn't know there would be rockets here," Elliot said.

((Rockets?)) Caw repeated. Pieces clicked together in his head. ((That was how you came to be injured, and off the path,)) he said, figuring it out. ((For them to be here…no matter, it doesn't change things. You need to go back to the town you left.))

"Why? Are – will they come back?"

Caw considered for a moment. ((They have not appeared yet, so, it is likely they have left. You don't need to worry about that. Rockets aren't a danger to you.))

"What do you mean? They attacked me!"

((You wouldn't have been hurt,)) Caw said. ((Rockets don't hurt trainers. I've never heard of them doing that. It's what's in the mountains you need to worry about.))

"What?"

((That isn't important.)) Caw pointed one wing awkwardly, an unnatural posture for him. ((We brought you from over there. If you go back in that way, you should be able to find the path you were on. You need to follow that back the way you came.))

"But what if the rockets-"

((You don't need to worry about rockets!)) Caw snapped, interrupting him. ((_You have to go back_. If you go any further, there's no telling what will happen.))

"I don't want to go back that way," Elliot said softly.

Caw opened his beak as if to speak, then shut it with an inaudible clack and remained silent.

"It's not too far," Elliot said, feeling like a little kid trying to justify himself to a suddenly frigid parent. He shrugged his backpack off his shoulders and unzipped it, pulling out the map.

((Out of date,)) Caw said without looking at it.

"If I start on another path, it'll be okay."

Prowler walked over and stared at the paper. Elliot traced his finger along a line of the map. "I think I'm here," he said. "So there should be another path around here…and I can take that."

Prowler didn't comment. What a bunch of flat lines had to do with paths was beyond her, nor did she care. She had no opinion on the forward-backward argument. She just knew they had to move.

"Is this where you lived, Prowler?" Elliot asked.

((No. That was – further away, I think. North.))

"So there aren't any persian here?"

((I don't know.))

((There aren't any persian,)) Caw said firmly. ((Because there never were any wild persian in the mountains to begin with.))

Prowler paid no attention to the murkrow, and his comment went unchallenged.

-

-

Prowler and Caw were both firm they should remain out. Caw refused to explain, while Prowler's answer was a vague comment that the mountains were dangerous. Both seemed on edge, and their anxiety transferred to Elliot, who became more and more nervous as time went on, his fear changing from that of rockets to a hazy unknown something.

Going was slow. On the third day, a few hours past noon, Prowler paused, sniffing the air. Wordlessly she jumped off the path and disappeared. Elliot yelled after her and got an answering promise she'd return 'soon'.

((She's probably just going off to stuff her face,)) Caw said. He sounded somewhat jealous as he stared off in the direction she'd gone, as if he wished he could do the same.

Prowler caught up with them less than an hour later, her fur wet as if she'd been soaked and had only just started drying on the way back.

Caw chastised her. ((You shouldn't go off like that,)) he said. ((You know that. Leaving your trainer for a meal. And here, it's completely irresponsible too.))

((A meal,)) Prowler repeated, her voice inscrutable. ((A meal. I'm not like you, carrion eater.))

((Why are you lying about it? I can smell it on you, even if you did try to wash it off.))

((He was in the water,)) Prowler said. ((That's why I'm wet.))

((You fished it out? A lot of trouble for a meal.))

((Thrice-damned Bird,)) Prowler hissed. ((How can a thing like you understand? Kin-eater.)) She looked at Elliot. ((Why have you stopped walking? You're slow enough, you can't afford to take longer.))

Elliot started walking again without thinking. "Where did you go?" he asked her.

((A river. It was nearby.))

River…stuffing her face…in the water…she had killed a…"You – you ate a po-"

((Do I look like a cursed murkrow?)) she snarled at him. He took a step back, not understanding her sudden anger. ((Would you – would you eat the body of your sister you found rotted so far you could barely even tell what he had been!)) She was shaking furiously.

Caw made a derisive cackle. ((Then what were you doing?))

((He wouldn't have wanted – the body was in the water. I – I just – he had to be moved.)) Prowler's voice had become oddly subdued. ((He had to be moved.))

-

-

It was well into the fourth day when Elliot saw the odd pokemon. He was walking along without paying much attention, focusing on not tripping over the rocks and tree roots that littered – or, by this point, made up – the path. Prowler was trailing behind, her ears pricked as if listening to something. Elliot had no idea what that might be, even the birds were often quiet now.

Elliot saw motion and looked toward it. For a moment he didn't see anything besides a shadow under a rock overhang, but then his eyes picked out two others, each a dull golden color, and then a bit of dark tail lying exposed, then a tiny bit of one leg on the other side. The thing was hiding in the shadow, but it didn't quite fit. Suddenly, it moved at an eerie slither, looking more like a fish darting through the water than any land pokemon. It seemed not to move at all but to just glide somehow out, and at a disturbingly fast speed. It stopped atop the rock and lay there unmovingly again.

It was flat against the stone, looking bizarrely like it had been crushed, with its legs sticking out at its sides rather than underneath it. Its tail was easily half its total length, a long, whip-like thing that thickened into a muscular base thicker than Elliot's thumb. The pokemon's body couldn't have been larger than Elliot's palm, just a few inches in size.

Elliot pulled out his pokedex and opened it, but the screen only fuzzed slightly and then went black. He stared at it for a moment in surprise – was it broken? He started to pull out a pokeball, intending to catch the strange pokemon, but it cocked its head at him, like it was considering him, then raced off the rock and disappeared into the leaf-litter with a rustling sound.

"Oh…" Elliot said, disappointed. He put the pokeball back. Caw fluttered down to see what had happened, and Elliot explained.

Caw volunteered no information on what the name of the pokemon might have been. Instead he said enigmatically it was probably for the best.

-

-

After the experience with the pokedex, Elliot checked other things of his and found them equally unfunctioning. Only the pokeballs seemed to be working.

Was there some kind of interference or something? Elliot thought he'd heard about places that had magnetic or electrical fields that prevented machinery from working. He thought he'd heard certain pokemon could cause that too. Maybe that black pokemon was one of those, or maybe there was some other pokemon around that could do it.

Two days later, when he checked, they were working again, but had a tendency to cut out suddenly in the middle of doing something. By the end of the day, they were fine. Elliot guessed he must have left the interference range of whatever it was.

The day after that, the forest started to look normal again, and then finally ended. Elliot hurried along and came to a city.

He had wound up in Cerulean.

* * *

Two more chapters to go!

Next chapter: Elliot finds himself in a somewhat uneasy Cerulean City, and heads out to see Bill.


	32. The Scientific Viewpoint

Sorry this chapter's late, everyone! It was a lot harder to write than I expected.

SunLight – Actually, Elliot was up in the north, right above the area where the maps in the game end. I assume he wound up in Cerulean because he picked the wrong path or else the wrong fork (he wasn't exactly sure where he was after he left the first path, and just guessed using his map, which is not the safest thing to do) and wound up going southward instead of northward a little past Mt. Moon. The pokemon description sounds familiar? Well, if you can think of it, tell me.

VulpixTrainer – Eek! You're totally lost? Well, I hope this chapter helps a little – the full(ish) explanation's still one chapter off, though.

Dream4Evermore – Hello! Well, I assume that the trainer in the Viridian Gym got the nidoqueen either as a nidoran or a nidoqueen. Gabrielle was talking about a nidorina who'd evolved in the wild and just been caught, not a trained pokemon or nidorina's basic or evolved forms.

I'd like to remind everyone before the chapter starts that just because a character says something doesn't make it true. As (hopefully!) you've noticed, the basic setup of this world is a bit odd, so if a character notices discrepancies, there's no guarantee that they'll identify the right one as being odd. And they've also got their own basic experiences and preconceptions.

So, don't just accept what you're told. It shouldn't be too hard though – if something sounds really, really weird to you, that's probably because it is :)

And you can always ask me anything you're not quite sure of in a review, of course.

…most of you are going to just skip this note aren't you? -.-;

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Scientific Viewpoint

-

Cerulean.

Elliot realized with a slight sense of disappointment that he must have taken a wrong turn. It wasn't that big of a deal, though, he could still get to the Lighthouse pretty easily from Cerulean and anyway, it'd probably be good to heal his pokemon.

He started towards where he thought the Pokemon Center was, but wound up half-lost as usual. He wandered and finally came upon the gym. The Center was a little ways past that, he remembered, orienting himself.

As he passed the gym he saw it was still closed, the same sign hanging on the door.

He got to the Pokemon Center easily from there, and he gave the Nurse Joy five of his pokeballs. He hadn't let the golduck out once, so it didn't need to be healed, and he didn't want to deal with the questions the Joy was sure to ask.

Everyone in the Pokecenter was quiet, somewhat subdued. They carried on hushed conversations or sat silently. There was none of the loud joking and playfulness he'd encountered the last time. He waited, a bit unsettled, until the Nurse Joy returned with his pokemon, and then stood to walk out.

"You've got a psyduck?" a boy asked.

"Yeah." The other boy sighed. "Cost me too. Everybody's getting them now. But it turns out I've gotta bring it in and wait a few days before it'll do anything. I was counting on having one for the tournament."

"Everyone's getting them?" the first one repeated. "Why?"

"Didn't you hear?" the other one said disbelievingly. "There's a new item that boosts their attack sky high!"

The doors of the Pokemon Center shut behind Elliot, cutting off the conversation.

-

-

Elliot headed north. There were trainers on the bridge, but they were occupied, so he crossed easily, and he didn't seek out any of the other trainers past there. He continued on, until he'd left most of them behind him and was no longer on the open, grassy fields there. Trees lined the road, but they were normal trees, nothing worth mentioning. Hours passed, and it grew overcast. After a time he started to hear faintly the sound of waves, then saw a tall tower in the distance.

That must have been the lighthouse. He hurried towards it, glancing nervously at the threatening sky.

It was located up high, up at the edge of a cliff. Elliot climbed the slope along a leveled path and reached it. He paused a moment in front of the doors, which was covered in paneled carvings of different pokemon. There was what looked a bit like it might have been a doorbell, so he pressed that.

He waited nervously. What if it wasn't a bell? Was he supposed to knock? Should he just try going in?

Elliot was saved from deciding by the doors slowly opening, revealing a blond boy of around seventeen. Was that Bill? There was no way he could be someone that young. But then was this the wrong place? But how many places like this were there?

"Um, hi," Elliot stammered, "I was told this…"

The boy smiled. "My name's Gabriel. I'm afraid Bill isn't here right now. What can I do for you?"

"I – there's –" He held out the pokeball. "This golduck's hurt really bad. Its – um, its head broke open. The Nurse Joy said nothing could be done, but I was hoping Bill might know what to do."

"Broke open?" the boy repeated. "How? An attack? If it's blunt trauma, the brain has probably been crushed, and there won't be much else that can be done."

"No, it –" Elliot wasn't sure how to explain. He didn't quite understand himself. "It – evolved, and when it did, its skull pulled apart."

Gabriel looked puzzled. "That's very odd. Come in, I'll take a look at it. Have you let it out since then?"

Elliot shook his head, stepping inside.

"Good. With the brain exposed, it's best to keep the amount of foreign material it's in contact with down. Well, follow me." He started walking.

Elliot followed. "Um, where's Bill?" he asked.

"Off at a conference," the boy said. "You just missed him, actually, he left yesterday. Bad luck, he'll be gone a while now. So, who told you to about this place?"

"A girl I met a while ago was talking about it. She had a pregnant ponyta."

"Ah, I remember her. That was an interesting case."

Deadmisbornwaystodie- "H-what happened to it?"

Gabriel didn't seem to notice his sudden change in composure. "Well, the foal was delivered without problems, but it had some odd physical anomalies." Images of horrible deformities flashed through Elliot's head. "The body of the foal was about the same size as normal, a bit on the small side. The legs, however, were larger, the length of an older foal, and it managed to walk within a half hour of its birth. The mother actually produced milk – it's a good thing we didn't try a cesarean section during labor, no telling what that might have done. Bill thought it might be further evidence that pokemon don't naturally lay eggs."

"They don't?"

"Not normally. That's his theory anyway."

"But they do lay eggs. My teacher even brought in pidgey eggs once and we all got to see them hatch."

"Yes, well, the theory is that pokemon switch to laying eggs when stressed or insecure. The very act of observing them therefore changes the results, which makes it quite tricky to prove, but there's a great deal of evidence suggesting it.

"You see, for example, a group of researchers were following a ponyta herd a while back – they were trying to figure out why the ponyta in isolated areas form herds while those closer to humans don't. When they got there and began observing, they almost immediately saw what were recorded as 'failed eggs', where the ponyta miscarried. The ponyta did this at all different stages of development. Every visibly gravid female miscarried. The researchers continued to track the herd for several years. During this time, all the females either miscarried or laid eggs which would be left behind as the herd traveled. No new members joined the herd, and it diminished, until after five years it was gone. The ponyta in the area began wandering as individuals, and the researchers packed up and left.

"They checked back there several years later, and the ponyta hadn't reformed into a herd. They were still laying eggs, but their numbers were decimated. If Bill's theory is right, the presence of researchers caused the ponyta to start laying eggs, and by the time they left, the ponyta were too stressed without a herd to stop producing eggs. Ah, here we are." He pressed a pad on the door and it slid open.

The two stepped inside. "We used this room for surgeries," he said. He pressed the button of pokeball and the golduck materialized on the table, jerking slightly, its eyes open and empty. Gabriel immediately grabbed a scalpel. Elliot flinched, but he only cut into the top of the helmet, pulling out wiring. "That should keep it off, at least." He recalled the golduck again and turned to Elliot. "Why didn't you tell me it was a helmeted one?" he said angrily.

"I – I didn't think it-" Elliot stammered.

"Well, you won't be using it to battle ever again," he said. "When Bill gets back we can try getting the helmet off and repairing the skull if he thinks it's possible, but there's no way it'll be able to fight. You'll have to get another pokemon."

"No, it's not mine. I was just there when it happened," Elliot said. "Why does it matter if it's helmeted anyway?"

"You know – no, of course you wouldn't," Gabriel said. "Well, I'll show you one." He opened the door again and headed out. Elliot followed. The older boy led him to a room filled with items. He picked one off the shelf, the top angled towards Elliot, the metal shining in the light.

He flipped it over. The underside was a mass of golden threads. They came out of the bottom, which was the same shiny metal color of the outside, except for the rim, which was an odd, white color, the color of-

"That's bone," he said suddenly.

Gabriel nodded. "It's from a dead psyduck, if you're wondering. The trainer who brought it let me try to cut the helmet off. The helmet is welded onto the top of the skull, and the wires are imbedded into the brain. Getting it off means removing the top of its head and tearing the wires out."

"So they have to spend the rest of their lives like that?"

"Yes, not that that's very long. Some die in just a month. The helmet works by shocking different parts of the brain, and it doesn't take long before the cells start to die."

"But why? Why would someone…"

Gabriel shrugged. "Because they fight."

"But trainers, how could they do that to their pokemon?"

"They don't know. All anyone's ever told is that it's an item just for psyduck, one that boosts their power."

"But weren't they suspicious? Didn't they wonder why it wasn't in reputable places?"

Gabriel smiled wryly. "How much more reputable can a joy get?"

-

-

"You know," said Gabriel, "no one really knows what evolution is."

"What do you mean?"

Elliot was sitting in what seemed to be the living room. The clouds outside had stopped threatening and begun their downpour, so Gabriel had told him he should stay until the storm ended.

"Well, you've probably heard it's a natural part of pokemon growth, haven't you?" Elliot nodded. "Well, there's another theory. Evolution is caused by pokemon being put under unnatural strain – whose bodies have been, for lack of a better word, 'tricked' into thinking they can't survive in their present form. The theory holds that pokemon living in the wild wouldn't evolve, or at least, would very rarely.

"I've never heard to that," said Elliot, unable to keep some of the skepticism out of his voice.

Gabriel didn't seem to mind. "Yes, well, you can understand it wouldn't be a very popular one. No research has ever been undertaken on the matter of course, but from existing data, there's a lot of contradiction. Some pokemon, like exeggutor, can't reproduce unless they evolve. On the other hand, several pokemon seem to have drastically shortened lifespans – the pidgey line, for example. And then there are some who seem to go sterile after evolving, like the female nidoran line. There are others that apparently never evolve in the wild, like rapidash. And there are a couple pokemon who seem present at levels well below the ones it takes to evolve them in captivity, such as magmar and jynx. Like I said, it's just a theory. No one really knows, and there's been no explanation for all the differences, at least, not one I've ever heard."

"My persian, I caught her evolved," Elliot said.

"Persian? Was she released?"

Had she been? "I don't…well, I – she says she wasn't, but I really don't know. She knows bubblebeam, and the pokedex says that's a TM move, and my murkrow keeps saying she belonged to a trainer."

"Saying," Gabriel said, sounding bemused. "So, you believe you can understand your pokemon."

"Well, yeah, I can."

"Anyway, if she knows a TM it sounds like she was trained. Shame, it'd be interesting if there really were wild persian somewhere. And Bill would probably drop everything and head there, forgetting about what he's doing."

"What's that, anyway?"

"Oh? Well, Bill thinks something's up."

"Something?" Elliot repeated.

"Yeah. You know the helmet's a new item, right? Well, do you know how often things like that come out?" Elliot shook his head. "Not often, that's for sure. New technology is invented at a steady rate. Makes sense, I guess, lots of stuff is constant, like when it rains. And the helmet isn't…on schedule, I guess you could say. Even weirder, the design keeps changing.

"And that, well, it just can't happen. Progress, invention, improvements, normally they happen regularly, spaced out. The helmet breaks all the rules." Gabriel sighed. "Actually, a lot of stuff does. That's what it seems to me."

Elliot waited, but he didn't continue. "Don't just say that and stop," Elliot said. "What do you mean?"

Gabriel bit his lower lip. He looked hesitant. After a moment he said, "It's probably be best – I probably shouldn't have even told you this."

"It seems like everyone says that," Elliot said. "That it wouldn't be good for me to be seen around them, or that I shouldn't know something. Why? If I don't know, what am I supposed to do about it? I want to know. I've – I've seen a dead psyduck someone abandoned because they didn't know what – they didn't know. I saw a nidorina die because someone didn't know. I saw – I saw a boy dead because he didn't know. Tell me, why is it so good to be ignorant!"

"How many badges do you have?"

"I've got eight."

Gabriel nodded slightly. "Then, I guess there isn't really anything they'd do to you." He took a breath deliberately. "Well, just – what I see doesn't make sense. I told you about how pokemon evolution doesn't seem the same. Everything's like that. It's inconsistent. It's strange, different from case to case.

"They say the forests are different at the edges of Kanto. Beyond a certain point they become impassible, a huge tangle of growth. The pokemon there are stronger, too, and dangerous. Man eaters, even."

"So, what does that mean?"

"Nothing," Gabriel said. "Nothing at all. It's just there. I can't say. But – do you know it's almost impossible to get out of Kanto unless you go an official route? It's almost like someone did that, to keep people in."

"Some big conspiracy theory?"

He smiled. "You could say that. It's not much of one, though. Every good conspiracy theory has to have a reason, you know, and has to know who's supposedly doing all of it. I haven't a clue. I just know that stuff just doesn't add up. You learn anything about physics in school?"

Elliot shook his head. "No. I mean, I know about it, it's like, gravity and stuff, right?"

"Yeah. It also says that, in this world, all systems aren't completely efficient. You know how you get hot if you run long enough? The heat is energy that could have been used for walking but wasn't. Everything is supposed to work that way. The laws of thermodynamics. Energy can't be created or destroyed, but it can be turned into a form where it can't be used again, and ever time anything uses energy, some of it is lost and can't be used again. So, in the end, all the energy in the world will be unusable, because there's no way of creating it. That's entropy, the ultimate end of the universe.

"But pokemon are violations of the laws. The amount of energy they produce far surpasses their consumption."

"So, they're like gifts from God?"

Gabriel laughed, not mockingly but still as if he'd said something funny. "How do you get that?"

Elliot felt already his comment had been childish. "The pokemon," he said uncertainly, "well, they make up for entropy, don't they? So everything won't die. They can't exist, so since they do, they're miracles."

"But the god who gave us them would be the same one who created entropy."

"Oh," Elliot said, blushing.

"It doesn't prove or disprove that a god made them, since any argument can go either way on the matter. It's just another part of the world. And for whatever reason, no one's ever been interested in finding out why or how they can exist."

-

-

The next morning the storm had stopped. But before Elliot left, Gabriel asked him what he was intending to do.

"I don't know," he answered.

"Would you like to go to Johto?"

Johto. Badges to win, cities to visit, new pokemon to see…Elliot nodded. "But how would I do that?"

"Well, you see, we'd like to send someone to Johto to help us with our research. It wouldn't mean much, just catch some of the pokemon exclusive to the area. A stantler would be much appreciated, for example. Neither of us can go, it's too much of a hassle traveling back and forth regularly and we're busy here.

"Someone acting as our research assistant would be permitted to leave easily, but we can't use anyone with fewer than eight badges, as trainers aren't supposed to leave unless they've accomplished everything in Kanto."

"Okay," Elliot said. "I'll do it."

-

-

"Hi Mom…yeah, I've been changing…yes Mom, I have, okay? Really. And don't ask that, it's embarrassing…yeah, I know. Anyway, I'm going to Johto…no, Mom, that stuff's not…those are just rumors, Mom…no, really, I met a trainer from there, it's just like Kanto…for a researcher, Mom, he asked me…yeah, Mom, it's okay…well, it'd be a good chance to train…yeah, I could do that here but I couldn't get more badges…I know, I'll be careful…I promise I'll call…no, really, I will. I'll call you when I arrive, I promise!…yeah, Mom…okay, bye…yeah, I love you too."

* * *

Next chapter: So why did people keep offering to trade for Prowler? Why do younger trainers win at tournaments? Why did Elliot fight a goldeen and not a gyarados at Cerulean? What does being too old have to do with anything? 

What are arcs?


	33. Anagnorisis

Negrek – It is odd, in a way, to have researchers investigating topics the average Joe never even knows about. Yet it's not really that different than what happens all the time in our world. There are a ton of scientific advances and questions _you're_ probably unaware of, after all…

Keleri – Really? Though I suppose it's not the most original idea. Just the whole pokedex/show/everything supports pokemon not laying eggs + pokemon lay eggs at the daycare thing suggests it pretty strongly, although whether or not it's entirely true…

VulpixTrainer – That's good to hear, I hope this chapter more or less makes sense.

Sunlight – You're not alone in guessing something odd, my little brother guessed about a dozen different pokemon for it, all wrong :) And if you remember, there have been a great many overheard conversations so far in Pokemon Centers (starting at ch4 or so) that involve someone very, very happy to get just one pokeball back, and a Nurse Joy who says not to use it for a couple days but doesn't lecture about injured pokemon, so the psyduck/Joy thing isn't entirely new, just the first time it's been completely put together. But hey, who said they actually are trying to kill the psyduck? And I love your guess for Prowler!

Firebird Flight – Ack! That's what I get for not proofreading properly…Thanks for pointing those out, I've fixed it.

BambookidX – Yes, the title is very obscure, but then, doesn't that fit with the rest of the story? You'll just have to trust me that it's relevant.

cloudfightback – :) Well, if I just told you about Prowler, that would ruin all the fun, wouldn't it?

-

-

-

The end at last, exactly one year since this all started. Or the end of Kanto, at least.

A note before continuing: don't take what he says as the total truth. Understand there's always the possibility for a person to be exaggerating, especially when they're trying to sell something.

* * *

Chapter Thirty-three: Anagnorisis

_Anagnorisis, Greek; the point at which the protagonist in a tragic play recognizes the truth of the situation._

-

-

"Hey."

Elliot looked up. An older boy slid into the seat beside him. "Hi."

"You're the one with the persian, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Elliot said, feeling a nagging sense something was wrong in the greeting.

"You seem like a pretty smart kid. Got that thing to do what you say and all. I understand you haven't been doing too bad in battles either." He leaned forward conspiratorially. "How would you like to join the League?"

"Aren't I already…"

The boy laughed, too loudly. "Oh, that," he said dismissively. "That's just the surface, for the little kids. Seems you're ready to go beyond that. The League likes your battles – orthodox fights, normal pokemon. You haven't been getting too inventive. Now, we've heard you've decided to go to Johto, right?"

"How do you know all this?"

The boy shrugged easily, like it wasn't a big deal. "The League knows everything."

_Try not to attract attention._

_Don't trust anyone my age, understand?_

_No need for you to lose your chance by hanging around me._

_Quiet. You want more trouble than you've got?_

_It wouldn't do for you to be seen carrying on a conversation with the likes of me._

_Don't say that here!_

"So," he continued, "I'm here to extend the invitation. You know, there's really no need to go to Johto. Nothing good can come of helping a few subversives."

"What do you want me to do?"

The boy's eyes seemed to shine. "Join the League and stay here. We can always use more members. You don't realize how lucky you are to get this chance; few trainers your age are offered this."

"And what will that mean?"

"Well, you'll be paid, for one, and you'll be able to get the newest items, before they even show up on the market if you like. You don't have to do much. Just show up at tournaments, knock out anyone taking advantage of the younger fighters. Help distribute money to newer trainers, give 'em a fair chance. Keep a look out for anything going on, especially those trainers with inherited pokemon, generational trainers. Maybe you'll even get to have a new pokemon if you're the closest at the time. And if someone winds up with the wrong pokemon, you trade for it. Nothing major."

"Is – is that what you did to me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"My persian. Everyone kept offering to trade for it. What would you have done with her if I'd done that?"

"Oh, nothing. She'd just have been trained by a more experienced trainer. But obviously that was unnecessary. Most younger trainers can't handle rogues, that's all. That's what she was, wasn't she?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"A higher-level pokemon that's on its own. Trained pokemon that go feral, usually."

"The bounty office told me she'd be killed. Wasn't that true?"

"Feral pokemon, rogues, they're usually useless, and they can't be left lying around, of course. That'd be anarchistic. You've very lucky she didn't kill you, you know. But since she's shown herself to be obedient, that wouldn't be necessary now." He paused. "I don't think you understand the magnitude of what I'm offering. One little persian isn't important. The League is everything. As a member, you'll have money, the best and newest of items –"

"Like the psyduck's helmet!"

His tone should have been a warning, but the boy was wrapped up in his own explanation. "Yes, of cor-"

Elliot stood and walked out.

-

-

No tickets could be bought for the SS Anne. Elliot wondered if the League was behind that too.

The guard raised his eyebrows when Elliot showed the ticket. Inside, Elliot thought he could guess why. Everyone on the boat was an adult. They got to travel, he thought. Why?

The trip was a short one, two days long. It didn't seem like any big deal. So easy…why weren't people allowed to travel whenever they wanted? The League again, he thought. Probably everything…

He was going to Johto. Johto. Maybe it'd be somewhere different. Where trades would just be trades. Where the tournaments wouldn't be rigged. Where there wouldn't be a secret group of people pretending to be normal trainers and watching everyone.

Somewhere where there wouldn't be other kids looking around while they talked, as if they were worried someone was listening.

* * *

_Continued in Xanthic Growlithe Contract: Johto_


End file.
